The Past Becomes Present
by Kasey22
Summary: AU Lorelai sees herself in a young girl who comes to Stars Hollow looking for a new life. COMPLETE.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Anyone you might recognize does not belong to me. Mickey and Elizabeth belong to Lindsay, the girl who thought this story up. If you like it, let us know. If you hate it, constructive criticism is always welcome.

Mickey Stone descended the bus with one hand clutching the handle of her old suitcase and one hand supporting the bottom of the three-month old infant strapped to her belly. The shoulder straps were digging into her neck, but it was late afternoon and she didn't want to stop until she had a place to stay.

Elizabeth wriggled a little in her sleep but thankfully didn't awaken. Mickey waited for the bus to drive away before taking a closer look at the town she now found herself in.

The circles under her eyes masked her youth and the scared feeling in the pit of her stomach refused to go away. Both had been with her since she'd discovered that you _could_ actually get pregnant the first time you had sex. That had been just a year ago.

She would never forget the day that she'd taken that stupid home pregnancy test. God, what a nightmare. At sixteen years old, she couldn't imagine telling her parents. Her mother worked two part-time jobs and her father was perpetually out of work. What little extra money there was her father wasted on beer, cigarettes and lottery tickets. They were always fighting and scraping by and if it weren't for school, Mickey wasn't sure how she'd deal.

And then, as if things weren't bad enough, she'd gotten pregnant. Idiot, she cursed herself. How could you be so stupid! Her life had less than great and when Tom Rollingford had asked her out, she thought it was a sign. Things would get better.

His family was of extremely good breeding, they owned several houses, yachts, horses, cars…Mickey absently thought that they probably owned several of everything. His life was the antithesis of hers. And she wanted in.

Of course, sleeping with him had seemed like the perfect in. If you sleep with him, he'll fall in love with you and then he'll take you away from all your problems. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

The whole thing was like some ridiculous after-school special. She'd gotten pregnant the first time they'd done it and the next day at school he'd completely ignored her. Two months later it finally dawned on her that things were changing in her body and she'd gotten the test.

When the stick turned pink her stomach had sunk into her shoes. Completely unprepared to handle things, she'd decided that instead of telling her parents she'd see how long she could go before things became obvious.

For the next several months she'd attended school, done homework, was ignored by her parents and in general tried to maintain the status quo. In June when school let out she started spending a lot of time at the library and the park, anything to be out of the house.

At the end of June she'd gone into labor. Her parents had been not surprisingly furious over the pregnancy and over her lying about it and they were unwilling to help her. She spent a couple of months at a half-way house for unwed mothers, but there was a time limit on how long one could live there.

So, Mickey had packed her suitcase that morning taken the bus with Elizabeth out of Litchfield to this place called Stars Hollow.

Shifting her daughter's weight, she looked around for something, anything that looked like potential food and shelter. There seemed to be a diner down the block and she headed for it hoping they might need a waitress.

Elizabeth's bare feet kicked out at her legs as she lugged the suitcase along. The baby had slept the entire trip and Mickey knew she'd be waking up soon. With a grunt, she pushed open the diner door and grimaced at the cheerful bells. Now she'd done it. As if on cue, Elizabeth awoke and began fuss noisily.

Spotting an empty table, Mickey threw an apologetic glance at the impatient looking guy wearing flannel behind the counter and moved to sit. The sigh of relief she gave at being seated must have gotten her some pity-points because the guy came over with a glass of water and said, "Long day?"

Mickey gave a short, tense laugh and said, "Yeah, you could say that. Could you help me out here?"

She was unsuccessfully trying to take Elizabeth out of the carrier strapped to her stomach. When she pulled the baby up, the fabric of the carrier came up, too, making it impossible to detach them.

"Uh, I don't really know what I'm doing with this kinda thing," he said with raised hands and a frown.

"Just pull her out, okay? I'll hold the bottom." As she said this Mickey lifted Elizabeth's little arms and held them up to the guy.

Elizabeth was getting fussier by the second and probably to get her to shut up the man wrapped his hands around the baby's small chest and lifted. Mickey held onto the carrier at the bottom and they successfully separated the two. Quickly doffing the damn thing, Mickey threw it onto the chair beside hers and held her arms out for the baby.

"Thanks, I appreciate it," she told him as she took the baby back.

"Don't mention it," he replied grumpily. Elizabeth was settling down now that she was free of the carrier and seated on her mother's lap. "What can I get you?" the man asked, ordering pad poised.

"How 'bout a job?" she said with another nervous laugh.

The man took a hard look at her and then softened a little bit.

"How old are you?"

"Seventeen next week," she told him glancing away in embarrassment. She'd come across more than one person who'd felt comfortable using words like "slut" and "whore". She hoped he'd just give her a break.

"Seventeen?" he repeated with an incredulous look.

"Yep, completely over the legal age for working," she pressed with another laugh that sounded desperate even to her.

"Are you in school?"

"I'm working on my G.E.D.," she lied, swinging her eyes back to Elizabeth.

"And this is your kid," it wasn't a question.

"You wanna see a blood test?" she asked.

The man paused, clearly unsure about how to proceed. "What's your name?" he asked.

"Mickey."

"Like the mouse?"

"Like the Jagger. My dad was a fan."

"Jagger as in Mick Jagger?"

"Yeah. He thought it was pretty hilarious. My mom didn't think it was so funny when she woke up from the drugs and saw the birth certificate."

"I can imagine," he said with wide eyes.

"Anyway, about that job," she said, trying to draw the conversation back.

The man regarded her thoughtfully for a second and Mickey felt like shrinking in her seat. Her hair was dirty, she knew, but it was an okay color. Deep red with some highlights, and long when it wasn't pulled back in a ponytail. Which was never since Elizabeth had come along. Her jeans were mess, she knew, and the t-shirt she wore was a throw back to the makeshift maternity clothes she'd been using toward the end of her secret pregnancy. Even Elizabeth looked bedraggled. Her downy blonde hair was matted from the travel, her onesy was two days passed needing to be cleaned and she desperately needed a diaper change.

"I'll be straight with you," he told her with a sigh. "I wish I had a job for you, but I don't. I just hired on someone for the tourist season."

Mickey's hopeful eyes fell and she nodded silently.

"But I might have a friend who could use some help. She just opened an inn and I think she might be looking for a maid."

Mickey's head snapped up again. "Really?"

"Yeah. Lemme buy you lunch and then I'll give you directions. You can leave the suitcase here if you like."

"Thanks," Mickey told him sincerely. "I really appreciate it."

"Wait'll you meet my friend before you decide to thank me," he said before sticking his hand out and announcing, "I'm Luke."


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Anyone you recognize does not belong to me. Mickey and Elizabeth belong to Lindsay. She thought this bad boy up and told me to write it down. I just do as I'm told.

Mickey followed the directions Luke had given her to a charming little spot on the other side of town. The sign proudly proclaimed, 'Dragonfly Inn' and she smiled a little as Elizabeth dozed in her carrier.

She'd left the suitcase at the diner as Luke had suggested and now she felt naked without it. Worries plagued her. Everything she owned was in that suitcase and she'd just left it with a stranger. Trying to ward off the dark thoughts, Mickey purposefully ascended the stairs to the porch.

The door before her was exquisite. Clearly an antique, it had been lovingly restored to its original beauty. It was so pretty, that she hardly wanted to touch it. Elizabeth squirmed a little bit, though, and Mickey was reminded that they needed a place to sleep. She eyed the barn warily. It'd do in a pinch, but she hated to even think about it.

Grasping the handle firmly, Mickey pushed open the door and made her way to the front desk. An impeccably dressed man with skin the color of chocolate mousse stood at the counter shuffling paperwork. She stood before him and cleared her throat. Without looking up the man said, "We ahhr full. Try elzewhere."

"Sorry?" she asked, confused.

"Don't be zorry, be someplaze elze," he replied, still not looking up.

"I…I don't need a room, I need a job," Mickey clarified.

At this information, the man's head rose and he looked her over. His face registered bored contempt and with just a look he made it clear that she was not the sort of person they would hire unless a gun was to their head. His lip even curled a little.

"Indeed," he sneered, glancing down at Elizabeth in the carrier.

"Indeed," she said, trying to be engaging.

"Eet'z feelled."

"What do you mean?"

"Zee job. Eet'z feelled."

"But you don't even know what job I'm here for," she argued desperately.

"Eet doesn't matter. Eet'z feelled."

"But Luke sent me."

"Zen eet'z even _more_ feelled," he said pleasantly, as if he were really enjoying the moment.

"But he told me I should talk to Lorelai. Is she here?"

"Zere is no Lorelai here," he told her firmly before looking back down at his paperwork.

At that moment a tall dark-haired woman came out of the office behind the counter and said, "Michel, I told Tom to get those sconces back in working order last Friday. Why are they still out? Does no one listen to me? Am I only imagining that I can speak? Because if so, I've got one incredible imagination. And it makes me wonder, if I can imagine speaking why can't I imagine that I look like Heather Locklear and am married to Tommy Lee? On the other hand if I were married to Tommy Lee my name would be Lorelai Lee and that would be the same as Rory's. But not exactly the same because her Leigh is spelled differently. But still it would be weird," she finished thoughtfully. She opened her mouth prepared to continue on when she finally noticed Mickey. With raised eyebrows, she joined the guy – Michel – at the counter.

"Can we help you?" she asked.

"No," Michel replied. "Zee urchin was jhust leaving.

"I was talking to the urchin, thanks," she fired back.

"I…" Mickey began. "Luke sent me. I'm looking for Lorelai. He said she might be hiring a maid."

"Well, you found Lorelai, that's me," said the woman with a friendly smile.

"Nice to meet you," Mickey said as she lifted her hand to shake the woman's.

Lorelai took in the bedraggled pair, clearly mother and child – and young, too – and her heart melted a little.

"Why don't you come into the office and we'll talk about qualifications and stuff, okay?"

Mickey gave her a relieved smile and said, "Okay. Thanks."

Lorelai led the way into the little office and closed the door behind them. Mickey sat down in a chair in front of the desk and adjusted Elizabeth in the carrier. Lorelai sat down behind the desk and stared at the two of them thoughtfully.

"So Luke sent you?"

"Yeah, he said you might be looking to hire a maid," Mickey explained.

"Do you have any experience?"

"Uh, not really," she confessed nervously, "but my mom worked a lot and so I kept our house really clean when I lived at home."

"How old is the baby?" Lorelai inquired with a thoughtful look.

"Three months. Her name is Elizabeth."

"That's a nice name."

"Thanks, it took me forever to decide. I actually called her 'Baby' for the first week. I wanted something normal, you know? My name is very bizarre."

"You're talking to a Lorelai, so I understand about names that are different," Lorelai laughed.

Smiling ruefully, Mickey said, "My full name is Mick Jagger Stone. I think I might have you beat."

Lorelai laughed hard at that and said, "Wow, you can say that again. No wonder you wanted something mainstream for your kid."

"Exactly," Mickey nodded.

"Okay, well, look. How about if we do a trial period? I definitely have a need, but with no experience I'm concerned about how well you'll like it. Why don't we bring you on for a month and at the end of that time you and I can sit back down and decide if this is really something you want to continue with?"

Nodding, Mickey adjusted a sleeping Elizabeth and said, "I just have one little problem."

"What's that?"

"We don't have anywhere to stay. Is there a boarding house that you could recommend or a someone who rents rooms?"

Lorelai stared at the girl, this tiny slip of a girl with a three-month-old kid on her lap and had to remind herself that this was really happening. It was surreal. There was no choice involved if she were honest. The decision was made. Without pausing for further reflection, she felt the words rush out of her mouth. "There's a room here that's too small to put people in. We've been using it for storage up until now. I think it used to be a maid's room back when this was someone's house. Why don't we put you and Elizabeth there for the time being? It's on the third floor and it has it's own bathroom, so you'll be out of the way and the baby noises won't bother anyone. And that way, too, your earnings won't be eaten up by rent."

"Really?" Mickey was incredulous. "Are you sure?"

"Why not?" Lorelai shrugged, trying to sound breezy. "At the end of the month we'll reassess and go from there."

"I…I don't know what to say," Mickey stammered. "You won't regret it."

"I'm sure I won't," Lorelai told her with a warm smile. "Let me show you the room."


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Mickey, Elizabeth and the story line belong to Lindsay. I just obey her.

Mickey sat in the little room, resting her back against the single pillow on the bed and fed Elizabeth. The first week of breast-feeding had totally grossed her out. Her boobs had always been big, but now they ached when it was time to feed her and they leaked when she cried and they were constantly in her way. Elizabeth liked them, though, and Mickey had eventually gotten used to the whole feeding one's child with one's body thing. Plus it was free, which was a hell of a lot cheaper than formula.

The room Lorelai had led them to was pretty nice even if it was small. The whole third floor was made up of really small rooms which used to be for the servants. At the end of the hall, her end, thank goodness, was a cramped bathroom that the servants had probably all shared. Mickey couldn't even imagine what that must have been like. Maneuvering just herself would be interesting.

The room held a single bed and a dresser. Spartan was too luxurious a word for her surroundings, but Lorelai had left her with the promise of sheets, a bedspread and – heaven – a mirror.

Mickey looked down at Elizabeth who was cupping her mother's chin as she suckled. "I swear, E, you made a really bad choice. I'm going to be a totally sucky mom, I can just tell. No husband, no parents, no friends, not even a high-school degree." Mickey allowed the wave of self-pity to wash over her.

Elizabeth stopped nursing for a moment and smiled up at her. Mickey smiled back and continued. "But I guess a job and place to crash is a good start, huh?"

Elizabeth spit up. "Tell me how you really feel," Mickey muttered, cleaning up the goo with the edge of her t-shirt. She had to get the suitcase from Luke's. Elizabeth needed a change of clothes and Mickey didn't even want to think about what was inside the diaper.

After another burp, Elizabeth was ready to go. Completely sick of the carrier-thing, Mickey decided to haul her kid around the old-fashioned way – with her arms. Hefting the baby up on her hip she made her way downstairs while Elizabeth babbled. She passed Michel, who was still at the front desk, and headed back to the diner.

She found Luke behind the counter again and she approached with a shy smile.

"Hey," he nodded to her.

"Hey." Elizabeth babbled some more. Luke's gaze drifted to the baby and he looked a little afraid.

"Lorelai just called," he told her. "She said she offered you a job and a place to live."

Mickey smiled wider and said, "Yeah, she was really great. I'm actually a little shocked."

"Well, there's a history there," he confided.

"Really?"

Luke nodded again and poured a glass of water for her. "Can I get you anything?"

Mickey's mouth watered, but she shook her head. Once she had her first paycheck she could squander money on food. Until then she needed important stuff like diapers and soap. "We just ate."

"We?" he asked suspiciously.

"We," she confirmed. "But tell me the history."

"I'll let Lorelai tell you – she loves a good story."

Mickey looked behind him and saw the suitcase, safe and sound. "Well, I should grab my bag and head back to the inn then." Elizabeth squealed just then and shook her legs and Luke jumped.

"They sure make a lot of noise, huh?"

"Seriously, I know," Mickey agreed. "I haven't slept the entire way through a night since I left the hospital."

Luke laughed sympathetically. "That's gotta be rough." He took in the drawn face and dark circles under her eyes and said, "Why don't I carry the suitcase back for you? I've gotta talk to Lorelai about something anyway, so I was gonna to stop by tonight. It's no trouble."

Mickey eyed the bag and chewed on her lip. "Really? Shouldn't you stay? What if someone comes in and needs something?"

"Lane is here," he told her. He pointed to a small Asian girl who was taking someone's order on the other side of the room. "She can handle it."

"Are you sure?" Mickey asked, worried.

Elizabeth started fussing and waving her arms around. "_Completely_ sure," he told her. Mickey thought that getting Elizabeth out of the diner as quickly as possible had something to do with his wanting to help, but she wasn't about to turn down his offer.

"Okay," Mickey agreed. "If you're positive."

"Positive," Luke told her as he grasped the case with one hand and called over his shoulder, "Lane, I'm going out but I'll be back."

"Okay," she called back.

Once they were outside and it was just the two of them, Mickey shifted Elizabeth to her other hip and said, "I really appreciate this."

"It's no big deal," Luke assured her. They walked in silence for a moment and then he said, "So where're you from?"

"Litchfield," Mickey told him.

"Your parents still there?"

"Yeah," she answered, an edge to her voice.

"Don't get along?" Luke asked.

"You could say that."

"You wanna talk about it?"

"If you had a daughter," Mickey began, "and she accidentally got pregnant and then didn't tell you because she thought you'd get mad, would you kick her out when the baby came?"

There was a pause. "Um…no. I definitely wouldn't kick her out when the baby came," Luke said. "But lemme guess."

"Yeah," Mickey stated. "A person makes _one_ little mistake." She caught his eye and smiled a little.

Luke chuckled at her sarcasm but then shook his head and said, "Sorry. It can't be easy do go through something like that. Where've you been living?"

"It's so cheesy," she told him. "A half-way house for teen mothers called Safe-Haven." Elizabeth squealed and Mickey said, "I know, I know, cheesy!"

"What about her father?" Luke asked sounding concerned.

"Ugh, he's a jackass. He refused to speak to me after we…you know…." Mickey blushed and looked up to see if he was appalled. He was just looking straight ahead and listening to her, though. "Anyway," she continued. "He wouldn't talk to me for the rest of the school year and then on the last day before summer vacation I finally got up the courage to tell him and he was all, 'Sucks to be you.' Can you believe that?" she asked. "He actually said to me, 'Sucks to be you.' Asshole," she finished under her breath.

"That's terrible," Luke told her. "I'm sorry."

"It is what it is," Mickey said, feeling defeated again.

Luke glanced over and watched the girl struggle with her kid. He had no idea what to say to her and so they finished their walk in silence. When they reached the Dragonfly Luke followed Mickey up the stairs to her room and left the case just inside the door.

"Thanks," Mickey said awkwardly.

"Don't mention it," Luke said with a nod and turned. Then he paused and faced her again and said clumsily, "I think coming here was a good thing. I think you'll be okay now."

Mickey smiled and felt a rush of warmth. "Thank you."

"And I like the name you chose. Elizabeth is my sister's name," Luke confessed.

"Really?" Mickey said in surprise. "What do you call her? I can't think of a nickname from Elizabeth that I like so I've been calling her E."

"We called her Liz."

"Liz," Mickey repeated. Luke was standing in the doorway of her room, looking uncomfortable and too big for the space. "I like that."

"Anyway," he said, "I need to find Lorelai so I'll leave you now."

"Okay," Mickey nodded. "Thanks again. For everything."

"Anytime," Luke said with a short wave.

Mickey watched him walk down the hall and turn for the stairs. He was the first nice guy she'd ever met.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own anyone who you might recognize. Mickey and Elizabeth are owned by Lindsay.

A/N: I've been remiss in thanking people up to this point. Sarah has been a kick-ass beta-reader on this, as well as many previous stories, so let me now tell her how awesomely she rocks. And Lindsay is the one who came up with this idea and said (very forcefully, I might add), "WRITE!" Thanks for that, LFG.

Later that day Lorelai appeared with bedding, the promised mirror, a bassinet and some welcome chatter. "My friend Sookie, who you'll meet later because she's the chef downstairs, had a baby last fall and he's old enough for a crib now, so you can use this for now. Also, she's going to put together some of Davey's old clothes and toys for you guys, too."

"Wow," Mickey said, a little taken-aback. She clutched Elizabeth in her arms as if she were a teddy bear. Elizabeth squirmed. "I can't believe that. I'll have to thank her when I see her."

Lorelai held her arms out for the baby who willingly went to her. Lifting the baby high up into the air and dropping her down again a few times quickly brought a smile to Elizabeth's face. "You'll see her tomorrow morning. Checkout time is eleven so that's when all the rooms get done. Come to kitchen for breakfast between seven and eight and Sookie will feed you and then if you want to, you can pick up some extra money by helping her out in there. Bring Elizabeth," Lorelai cooed her name and Elizabeth laughed.

"She won't be in the way in a kitchen?" Mickey asked skeptically.

"Nope. Davey's in there most afternoons, so it's so not a problem. Also, I figure you'll bring Elizabeth to each room you do and that way you won't worry about her while you work."

"That's a great idea," Mickey told her with wide eyes. "I _never_ would have thought of that."

"Yeah, well," Lorelai said confidentially, "I've done this before."

Mickey paused and looked up from where she was making the bed. "What do you mean?" she asked as Elizabeth laughed raucously while Lorelai played with her.

"I had a kid when I was sixteen," Lorelai told her kindly as she cuddled Elizabeth.

"You did _what_?" Mickey gasped and stared at Lorelai stupefied.

"I had a kid," Lorelai said, meeting Mickey's eyes, "when I was sixteen. And I left home shortly thereafter, came to Stars Hollow and got a job as a maid."

Mickey had to shake her head to keep it from flying off. "You're _kidding_, right?" It was too weird a coincidence, but it did explain the speed with which she'd been hired and the mysterious comment Luke had made about there being history.

"Nope. I had an easier time picking out a name, though." Lorelai told Mickey the story of how she and Rory had come to Stars Hollow and their early years in the potting shed. When she finished they were both sitting on Mickey's bed with Elizabeth in Lorelai's lap.

"That's unbelievable," Mickey said, hardly knowing what to say.

"I know, but sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction," smiled Lorelai.

"Wow," Mickey said. "And you're not close with your parents, either?"

"We're closer than we were when Rory was born, but on a scale of one to ten? I'd say we're at a three and a half," Lorelai said.

"But she's going to Yale? How could they _still_ be mad at you?"

"Rory," Lorelai said with a sigh, "is only the tip of the iceberg."

Mickey's stomach growled just then and Lorelai said, "Are you hungry? Why don't we finish this over some fries at Luke's?"

"No, I'm fine, thanks," Mickey told her, reaching for Elizabeth.

"You sound hungry to me," Lorelai frowned, relinquishing the baby.

"We ate earlier," Mickey said, averting her eyes.

"Oh, yeah? Whadja have?" Lorelai challenge playfully.

"Elizabeth had milk and I…well, I'm not that hungry."

Lorelai gazed at Mickey thoughtfully and said, "Are you breastfeeding?"

Ew. "Yeah," Mickey admitted blushing a little.

"Well," Lorelai began, "the thing is that unless you eat right, Elizabeth won't be getting any nutrients."

Mickey looked up sharply. "What?"

"Yeah, in order for the milk to be good for her you have to be eating healthy, too," Lorelai explained gently.

"Oh," Mickey said, glancing down at Elizabeth. Healthy was the last thing she'd been eating. "You know," she commented, "everything about this is harder than I thought it was gonna be."

"I hear ya," Lorelai said, tugging a bit on Mickey's long red ponytail. "So let me buy you dinner."

Mickey leaned back and screwed her face up. "I don't know. You've been really generous already. I don't want you to – "

"Hey," Lorelai interrupted. "This isn't for you. It's for Elizabeth."

Mickey considered the offer as she looked at the sleeping Elizabeth. She did look a little pale. And she needed to find a pediatrician or clinic eventually and when she did she didn't want the doctor telling her that her kid was malnourished. "Okay," Mickey finally assented. "But just this once."

Lorelai smiled and said, "We'll see."


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own anyone who you might recognize. Mickey and Elizabeth are owned by Lindsay.

A/N: Sarah has been a kick-ass beta-reader on this, as well as many previous stories. She keeps me honest and on-target and what more could one ask for in a beta-reader? Thanks are due also to Lindsay for being the one who came up with this idea. She's the one who demanded that I write it down and for that I'm very grateful. She's got good taste.

At Luke's, Lorelai ordered a burger with fries and Mickey got an open-face turkey sandwich with gravy, mashed potatoes, a side salad and a glass of milk. Lorelai looked impressed. Mickey was pretty slim for someone with a three-month-old. Hopefully she'll start eating better, Lorelai thought.

Half-way through their meals Lorelai's cell phone chirped and Luke gave her the stink-eye. "Outside!" he barked from behind the counter.

Mickey watched Lorelai roll her eyes as she got up and stepped outside with her cell. Elizabeth, who'd been sitting on Mickey's lap, chose that moment to pound her hand into Mickey's mashed potatoes.

"No!" Mickey said, startled by the flying potatoes. She made a grab for her daughter's hand but wasn't quick enough to keep her from beating another fist into them a second time.

Pushing her chair away from the table as Elizabeth squealed over the mess, Mickey looked around helplessly, hoping they weren't disturbing the other diners.

From behind her came a dishtowel and hand. Mickey looked and saw Luke wipe up the mess on Elizabeth and then wipe up the table as well.

"Sorry about that," she told him.

"No problem," he said kindly.

Elizabeth squealed at him and then blew him a raspberry. Luke gave them a half-smile and walked away.

"Thanks," Mickey called at his back as Lorelai re-entered the diner.

"That was Sookie," Lorelai said, sitting down. "She's going to stop over at my house tonight with the clothes and toys."

"Tonight? Your house?" Mickey repeated.

"Uh huh. So we'll have to take dessert to go. Luke!" Lorelai called, immediately distracted by the notion of dessert.

"Yeah," he said from the counter.

"We need dessert to go."

"You haven't even finished your plate of death yet. How could you want dessert to go?"

Lorelai considered. The burger looked good. "Okay, you have a point. We're gonna need dessert delivered later on."

"Are you out of your mind?" he asked coolly.

"No. My mind is just fine, thank you."

"I'm not delivering dessert," Luke told her. "Forget it."

"Come on, it's a slow night. Bring us dessert and stay to hang out with Jackson. Sookie and he are coming by with some clothes and toys for Elizabeth. Stay, have a beer or two, and it'll be fun."

Luke seemed to be considering the idea. "I'll think about it," he finally assented before heading into the kitchen.

Lorelai leaned her head in toward Mickey's and giggled, "He's so easy."

"Is he your boyfriend?" Mickey asked.

Lorelai almost fell out of her chair. "No! God, no! We're just friends, that's it."

"Okay," Mickey said as she cleaned her plate. She had eaten every speck of food given to her and she felt wonderful. "Thank you for dinner. It was fantastic."

"You're welcome," Lorelai answered with a mouth full of burger, eager to leave.

Later, when Mickey, Elizabeth, Lorelai, Sookie, Jackson and Davey were camped out in Lorelai's living room pawing through clothes and toys, it was Lorelai who jumped up when the bell rang.

"Dessert!" she squealed before running to the door.

She re-appeared moments later leading Luke in with bags from the diner. Greetings were exchanged while Lorelai pawed through the bags.

"Woo hoo!" she exclaimed. "TWO pies!"

Luke rolled his eyes and nodded at Mickey who was on the couch under a sleeping Elizabeth.

"She's all tuckered out, huh?"

"Yeah," Mickey answered. "Pounding potatoes takes a lot out of a girl."

Luke smiled and followed Lorelai into the kitchen to help her plate the pies. When they returned they found Sookie in mid-astonished sentence, " - how could she not have a woobie?"

"I don't know," Mickey said, flushing. "She just doesn't."

"You know," Lorelai chimed in, "I've always preferred the term 'binky' over 'woobie'. What do you think, Luke?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," he said, sounding annoyed.

"Binky! Woobie! You know, a security blanket," Lorelai explained.

"Davey can't sleep without his," Sookie said.

"And he has to bring it everywhere we go," Jackson added pointing to the grubby blanket on the floor next to where Davey was playing with some blocks.

"What did you call yours?" Lorelai asked Luke again.

"I didn't have one," Luke said feeling a little defensive.

"Nice try. _Everyone_ had one. What did you call it?"

Luke squirmed in his seat. "If I did have one, I don't remember it."

"Uh huh," Lorelai said as she rolled her eyes. "This conversation isn't over." Then, turning to Mickey she said, "Don't worry about it, she'll find one. The real question is the nickname."

"Nickname?" Mickey asked.

"Elizabeth is a long name," Sookie commented. "Are you going to shorten it?"

Elizabeth opened her eyes just then and wriggled to sit up. Mickey held her up and looked at her daughter's face. "I called her Cookie for a few days. Before I decided on Elizabeth. But I don't think that counts."

"Well, what about Liz?" Luke chimed in.

"I've been thinking about it and Liz sounds too grown up for a baby, I think," Mickey said.

Lorelai swooped in and took Elizabeth from Mickey.

"Are you a cookie?" Lorelai asked her.

"What about Beth?" Sookie suggested.

"Or Betsy," Jackson added.

"Or Bette," Sookie called.

"Bitty!"

"Bitsy!"

"Whoa!" Lorelai called out. "Why don't we just buy her some pearls and get her a membership at the club?"

"What do you call her now?" Sookie asked.

"E," Mickey said simply.

"E works," Sookie said thoughtfully.

Lorelai sat down next to Luke and Elizabeth smiled at him and tried to touch his backwards baseball hat. "Baaaah!" she cried.

"Hey!" Luke said, ducking.

Mickey sat on the floor and started going though baby clothes. "These are so great," she said.

"Sorry they're mostly blue," Jackson said.

"Please. It's better than naked," Mickey smiled back holding a pale blue onsie with little footballs all over it.

Lorelai was bouncing Elizabeth on her lap when she looked up and gasped, "The pies! I can't believe I forgot about dessert!" Hastily, she deposited Elizabeth into Luke's arms and snatched the bags up and brought them into the kitchen.

"Hey!" Luke said. Elizabeth blinked at him and he tried to readjust her.

"Aww," Sookie said, "look how cute you are with the baby."

Luke didn't answer. Instead, he tried to imitate Lorelai by bouncing Elizabeth on his lap. Glancing up, Mickey said, "Be careful. She just ate before her nap so she might – "

Before the words could leave Mickey's mouth, Elizabeth opened her own mouth and puked breast milk all over Luke's flannel shirt.

Lorelai walked in just in time to see it and she was quickly doubled over laughing.

"I'm so sorry," Mickey said, taking Elizabeth back.

"Don't worry about it, I'll just get a towel," Luke said as he headed for the kitchen.

Mickey followed him, still holding Elizabeth. From behind him she said, "Let me take your shirt and wash it for you. Babies aren't your thing and I know it wasn't your idea to hold her. I should have taken her from you before she could do any damage."

Luke stood with a towel at the sink blotting at the considerable stain on his shirt. "It's okay," he said wondering how one might pre-treat baby puke.

In the end, Mickey had insisted on taking the shirt home to wash it. Sookie walked Mickey and Elizabeth back to the Dragonfly while Jackson took Davey home and Lorelai and Luke stood on Lorelai's front porch.

"She's something else, isn't she?" Lorelai said.

A soft breeze tickled the hair on Luke's bare forearms. "That she is," he agreed.

"Having a kid so young, no family to help…" she trailed off.

"She seems to have you."

"She has more than just me," Lorelai said, looking at him meaningfully.

Luke looked away and took a deep breath of air. "No body should have to be that young and dealing with stuff like that alone."

"You like her," Lorelai said with a soft smile.

"So do you," he answered quietly. "Besides, like you said, she's got no family, so now she has…us, I guess."

"That she does," Lorelai agreed.


	6. Chapter 6

Some months later, Mickey stood in the kitchen of the Dragonfly slicing apples for a pie. Beside her, Elizabeth sat in a high chair eating Cheerios and babbling to herself as the late morning sun glided in through the lacy curtains.

As she pushed her paring knife through the juicy apple slice Mickey smiled to herself. Things weren't perfect, but they were certainly far from dire. When the apples were done and the pie was safely in the oven she'd take E upstairs with her to clean the rooms. She hated that part. The time she spent in the kitchen with Sookie was golden and she couldn't get enough of it. But, for now, her job description consisted of cleaning the guest rooms and working in the kitchen only in her spare time. What she was learning from Sookie more than made up for the boredom the came with scrubbing bathtubs and making beds, though.

"Ba-ba-ba!" Elizabeth suddenly called to her with a smile and wide eyes. The first pearly glimpses of teeth were showing through her gums and lately she was constantly drooling and biting. The hair that had been strawberry at birth had darkened so that it now matched Mickey's own long red hair.

Mickey gave her another handful of Cheerios and said, "I'm almost done, cookie." E squealed at the cereal and immediately fed herself one. Mickey picked up another piece of apple and began to methodically slice it into thin strips.

At the sound of a pair of heels clipping efficiently down the hallway, Mickey lifted her head and smiled in the direction she knew Lorelai was coming from. Rounding the corner as Mickey knew she would, Lorelai charged toward the coffee pot and said brightly, "Morning, Mick."

"Hey, Lorelai."

"Another pie?"

"Sookie liked the apple I made last week so I thought I'd try it again. I also picked up some caramel from Doose's and I thought we could heat it up and drizzle it over the top for dessert tonight."

Lorelai gazed at her and said, "That sounds fantastic. Keep up the great work."

"Thanks!" Mickey answered smiling a little shyly. She was still unused to Lorelai's way of so openly praising her employees. "I'll try."

Lorelai headed for the door, but stopped suddenly and turned around. "By the way," she began, "after you finish up the rooms today come find me. I need to go over some things with you."

Mickey's smile fell as she answered hesitantly, "Okay."

Lorelai threw her another smile and left the kitchen. Later, when Mickey was trudging up the steps to begin the day's cleaning, she chewed at her bottom lip. She and Lorelai had never sat down after that first month to "reassess" as Lorelai had called it. Mickey was sure that if there had been a complaint she would have heard about it.

Lorelai had probably noticed the Mickey felt more comfortable in the kitchen than the upstairs and Mickey hoped she wasn't going to get fired. She needed this job. She needed a place to stay. Since coming to live at the Dragonfly she'd pinched every penny and though she was definitely eating better, she made sure that she ate cheap. The only time she went to Luke's was with Lorelai and that was only if Lorelai was buying. She had found the local thrift store and replenished her supply of jeans and t-shirts. She spent practically nothing on herself. Almost everything she made went to keep Elizabeth in diapers, formula and baby food.

Lorelai paid her by the room when she was a maid and by the hour when she was in the kitchen, which was whenever she wasn't cleaning or asleep. Mickey kept careful track and only spent money on things they absolutely needed. Everything else went into the bank.

She'd been able to save several hundred dollars since their arrival, but that was pennies compared to what you needed to rent an apartment, even a crappy one. No, she needed this job. Their room on the third floor was cramped with all the things they'd gotten from Sookie, but Mickey preferred to think of it as cozy. It was a roof over their heads and they were safe.

On their first night Mickey had put the mattress on the floor and gotten rid of the bed frame. This way, they could share the bed and Mickey didn't have to worry about E falling on the floor.

They were doing Okay, with a capitol "O", Mickey thought to herself as she finished up the last room. Elizabeth slammed the rattle against the portable playpen she was confined in and let out a shriek as if to say, "Dammit, pay attention to _me_!"

"Shh, I'm almost done," Mickey said thinking, Well great. With all the yelling and screaming I'm shocked we haven't been tossed out before now.

Once the play-pen was safely tucked away in the upstairs closet and they were back downstairs, Mickey left Elizabeth with Sookie who was playing with Davey in the kitchen and knocked on Lorelai's office door.

"Come in," Lorelai called from behind the door.

Mickey opened the door and slid into the office, trying to be as unassuming as possible. "Hey again," she said nervously. "You wanted to see me?"

Lorelai finished scribbling something in a file and looked at Mickey with a smile. "Yes," she confirmed. "Close the door and sit down."

Mickey obeyed.

"How is it going?" Lorelai asked directing the full force of her attention onto Mickey.

Mickey felt stumped. Surely this must be a trick question. "Good," she answered, clasping her hands tightly in her lap.

"You like the job, then? The cleaning?" Lorelai probed.

"It's great," Mickey said, nodding enthusiastically.

Lorelai smiled. "Is it your dream job?"

Again, Mickey felt stumped by the question. Dream job? "Well," she began.

"Because Sookie thinks you have quite a talent with food and before I transfer you to the kitchen full time I thought I'd get your opinion."

"The kitchen?" Mickey repeated, eyes lighting up. "Full time?"

Lorelai nodded. "Are you interested? I'd need you to keep doing the rooms until I hire someone else, but as soon as that happens, you're part of the kitchen staff full time."

"I'm definitely interested," Mickey exclaimed. "Thank you!"

"Your welcome," Lorelai answered. "But there's a catch."

Mickey's smile faltered. "Catch?"

"You need to get your G.E.D. A high-school degree is mandatory for life and therefore mandatory for keeping the job. I'll help however I can and I know Sookie will too."

"Got it," Mickey answered solemnly. "Consider it done."

"Good. Well, that's all I have," Lorelai said, standing. "Let's go get some pie."

When they found Sookie in the kitchen, though, she was on the phone and clearly aggravated. The babies were in matching high chairs, Elizabeth eating her Cheerios with gusto while Davey seemed to be seriously considering each and every one before he pelted them at Elizabeth who giggled when they bounced off her.

"What are you talking about? This can't be happening!" Sookie all but yelled into the phone.

Lorelai and Mickey exchanged a look and waited for Sookie to finish. Finally, after much grumbling and many threats Sookie hung up. The sun had shifted in the hours since Mickey had been in the kitchen. Lunchtime had been and gone and now the room was a flurry of activity prepping for dinner.

"Sookie, what happened?" Lorelai asked.

"Owen!" Sookie shouted, letting her arms fly around in exasperation.

"Owen?" Lorelai repeated.

Mickey took up a spot among the other kitchen staff and started chopping red onions, but she couldn't help but over hear.

"Remember Jackson's cousin Rune? Well Rune has a brother named Dune – don't ask – and Dune has a son named Owen."

"Thank God," Lorelai replied.

"No kidding," Sookie nodded. "But he's coming to stay with us like Rune did. He's eighteen for Heaven's sake. I guess he dropped out of college and all of a sudden he needs a change of scenery so they're sending him here."

"What is it with that family and their need to be near Jackson?"

"I wish I knew," Sookie told her.

"When does he get here?"

"This weekend, I guess. I'm not sure," Sookie answered glumly.

"Is there anything I can do?" Lorelai asked sympathetically.

"No," Sookie sighed. "But I'll keep you posted." Realizing that she was missing the dinner prep time, Sookie gave herself a shake and said, "Okay, back to work. Where are my onions? I need to caramelize them!"

Mickey quickly handed the onions over and the next few hours were flew by. When she and Elizabeth got to their room that night, Mickey was exhausted as she always was. After changing E's diaper and putting them both in p.j.s, she sat down on the bed and leaned against the wall. She'd weaned E off breast milk very early on because it was inconvenient and, if she were honest with herself, a little gross. The formula cost money she didn't really have, but at least she didn't walk around feeling like a leaky tugboat.

She'd never forget the day she'd gone to Luke's on an errand for Lorelai and discovered halfway through their conversation that the reason Luke was staring at the ceiling was because her top had twin wet spots. She blushed again just thinking about it. She'd avoided Luke after that, even forgetting to return the pukey plaid shirt she still had. Elizabeth had taken a liking to it, though and lunged for it whenever she caught site of it. She was clutching it in her little fingers now as she ate.

It was close to nine when E finished the bottle and her eyes were getting really droopy. Carefully, Mickey took the bottle from her and scooted down so that they were by now lying on the bed, side-by-side. This was her favorite time of day.

Elizabeth was asleep, her soft eyelashes brushing against her ruddy cheeks, silky hair wild from the days events, mouth slightly ajar as she breathed deeply. Mickey had never been able to understand what people meant when they talked about how much they loved their kids. She understood now. She felt like there was an entirely new place in her heart that had never existed before. She'd die if anything ever happened to her daughter.

Mickey drifted to sleep thinking that she was a very lucky girl.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I do not own anyone who you might recognize. Mickey and Elizabeth are owned by Lindsay.

A/N: Many thanks go to Sarah for being a kick-ass beta-reader. She keeps me honest and on-target and what more could one ask for? Thanks also go to Lindsay for being the one who came up with this idea. She's the one who demanded that I write it down and for that I'm very grateful. She's got good taste.

I am really sorry for the length of time it's been between updates. My little laptop was under the weather for a while and I've only just gotten her back from the doctor. ::cough, cough:: Here that? She's still not feeling great, but she's doing much better.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The next few days passed the way they usually did. Lorelai began interviewing for the job Mickey would be giving up and at breakfast one morning a book on how to study for the G.E.D appeared near her plate.

As promised, Mickey took the conversation she'd had with Lorelai to heart and spent her evenings with the book propped up in bed. With Elizabeth sleeping, Mickey fought her own exhaustion to study as late as she could. Unfortunately, hard work did not necessarily translate into an easy understanding of the material and her study sessions quickly spilled into daytime hours as she spent every spare second with the book in front of her eyes.

One Wednesday shortly after Sookie and Lorelai had decided to eliminate lunch, Mickey was once again trying to push the information into her head while Elizabeth sat next to her in the playpen banging some of Davey's trucks together. The kitchen would be quiet until about three when the dinner prep would start.

For the third time, Mickey read a paragraph on some mathematical equation and was just about to throw the book across the room when she heard the back door open and she looked up. Standing before her, looking a little bored, was a guy. A really cute guy. A guy with shaggy blonde hair, deep set blue eyes, a crooked nose, and a wide friendly mouth. There was also some luggage at his feet and Mickey thought for a second that he must be a confused guest. Still, the little experience Mickey had with members of the opposite sex rushed back to her now and she actually felt her mouth go dry.

Catching herself, Mickey said softly, "Can…can I help you?"

"Yeah, I'm looking for Jackson Melville," he answered shortly glancing around.

"Uh, he's not here," she told him tentatively. "I think he and Sookie took Davey to a doctor's appointment."

His attitude was seriously diminishing the rush was warmth she'd felt a second ago. The guy looked around the kitchen with a good bit of derision and then his eyes fell on Elizabeth. Cutting his eyes back and forth from E to Mickey, understanding grew and he almost looked contemptuous. Mickey felt her cheeks get hot. Almost everyone in town had been so nice to her that she'd forgotten that there had been a few people before she'd come here who'd made her feel pretty bad about herself.

With a soft blush, Mickey looked down at her lap and tried to think of something to say. Her temper was flaring and she was about to give him a piece of her mind when the sharp click of heels that always announced Lorelai's arrival saved her and they both swung their eyes over to the door. Sure enough, Lorelai came around the corner and made a beeline for the coffee pot as she chattered away.

"Hey, Mick," she breezed without looking. "I'm dying for a hit." Lorelai filled a mug and lifted it to her lips, then pulled it away with a deep sigh of satisfaction. "Much better," she murmured.

Looking up, Lorelai suddenly noticed that Mickey wasn't alone. "Can I help you?" she asked, repeating Mickey's initial question.

"I'm looking for Jackson or Sookie," the guy said, clearly annoyed.

"Well, Jackson doesn't work here, he's just our produce supplier and Sookie took Davey to the doctor. I'm Lorelai, Sookie's partner."

"I'm Owen," he said, extending his hand.

"Ah, yes," Lorelai answered. "Owen. Sookie mentioned you'd be coming, but I didn't get the entire story."

"It isn't a long one," he said crossing his arms over his chest. "I wanted to take a year off before starting pre-med, my parents wouldn't let me, so I flunked out the first semester."

"And they sent you here."

"Yup."

"Huh," Lorelai said thoughtfully. Then, as if just noticing Mickey she continued, "Have you two met, then?"

"Not officially," he said, remembering his manners and extending his hand to Mickey. "I'm Owen Melville."

"Mickey Stone," she answered giving him a firm, no-nonsense handshake. She'd recovered from her initial awe and refused to be cowed by him. The three of them stood in silence for a second until Lorelai said, "Well, I'm going to go try to call Jackson. He should be home."

Lorelai took her leave and left Owen and Mickey alone in the kitchen. Breaking the silence Owen said, "Studying?"

"Yeah."

"This your kid?" he asked stooping down so that he was at E's height. The baby gazed up at him, a stranger, with solemnity.

"Yup," Mickey answered ready to tear his head off.

"He's cute."

"Her name is Elizabeth."

Owen shot a glance at her and said, "Her outfit has dump trucks all over it."

"Since when are women banned from the construction industry?" Mickey blazed sarcastically.

"Since never, but – "

"But nothing," Mickey interrupted.

"Hey, it's not like you can always tell with babies, okay? I'm sorry I thought she was a boy."

"Fine," Mickey answered looking back down at her book. Her eyes fell on the math problem she'd been struggling with and she made a face and heaved a sigh.

"Trouble in paradise?"

Mickey looked up and said, "Excuse me?"

"It sounds like you need some help."

"I'm fine, thanks," she answered haughtily.

Without asking, Owen peered over her shoulder at the problem and said, "I remember these."

Mickey looked up at him suspiciously. His shaggy hair had fallen forward into his eyes and she wanted to do the unthinkable – push it back for him. Clasping her hands tightly in her lap again, she said, "The test is in four weeks. Can you show me how to do this before then?"

"Most definitely," he told her as something else crept into his face. Not respect, she thought. It couldn't be. The look he'd given her before precluded anything like it.

Lorelai found them fifteen minutes later sitting together, hunched over the book with her notebook open and full of equations. Clearing her throat, she said, "Owen?"

Glancing up, Owen saw Lorelai in the doorway and said, "Yeah?"

"Jackson's on his way over. Apparently they weren't sure when you'd be arriving so they're not quite prepared. He'll be here soon."

"Thanks," he answered.

Lorelai left and a few minutes later Jackson arrived. After greetings were exchanged, Jackson left them to speak to Lorelai and Mickey and Owen continued to work on the dreaded math problems.

While Jackson was gone, Owen took the opportunity to study the girl sitting next to him. She was about his age, maybe a little younger. He wondered what her story was. When he'd arrived she'd looked him over the way women had been looking at him his entire life – as if he were the daily special. God, he was sick of it. The last year of his life had been about getting away with murder because he could charm anyone into anything and he was thoroughly bored with it. She'd fallen under the spell right away and he'd been a jerk in response. He didn't want just another chick bending over backwards for him.

She'd changed, though. After he'd looked Elizabeth over and implied that she was less than pure, she'd gotten defensive. Then, when the adults had gone, she'd actually given him crap. He'd been intrigued. Nobody gave him crap.

The math problems had given him a chance to get closer to her, but she wasn't backing down. She'd accepted his help, but it was as if she'd completely closed herself off from him. She'd schooled her features to give nothing away about what she was thinking or feeling. Their conversation was limited to her studies.

For her part, Mickey found him to be thoughtful and interesting and a surprisingly good teacher. It would just be for this one time, though, she reminded herself. The last thing she needed was some hoighty-toighty _boy_ making her feel insecure. If he didn't think she was good enough him, then _she_ didn't think he was good enough for _her_.

Just as they'd finished the last problem, Jackson and Lorelai came back into the kitchen. Mickey glanced at the clock and noticed that it was getting close to three. Sookie would be back soon with Davey.

"Owen," Jackson began. "Lorelai and I have been talking and she's willing to give you a job here. Ever since your uncle Rune went home, they've needed a handyman and you should fit the bill pretty well. Also, we just found out that Sookie is expecting again, so the guest room at our place is going to be taken. That means that you're going to get one of the servant's rooms upstairs."

"Servant's room?" Owen repeated.

"Yep. Is that okay with you, Mick?" Lorelai broke in. "It means you'll be sharing a bathroom."

"Oh, yeah," Mickey said, not feeling at all okay. "No problem."

"Great. Owen, what do you think?" Lorelai asked.

Owen shrugged. "I guess so. What would I be doing?"

"Handyman stuff," Lorelai answered. "Mowing the lawn, fixing things when they break, mucking out stalls when we need you to, stuff like that."

"Sure," he said. "That sounds okay."

"Great," Jackson said.

After Owen had gotten his luggage together, Lorelai brought him up to the third floor and led him to a room that was about the size of a toaster.

"Good lord," he said, tossing his biggest bag on the narrow bed.

"Yep. Dropping out was _such_ a good call," Lorelai joked sarcastically. She'd noticed some weird vibe going on between Owen and Mickey and she felt very protective of the girl.

"Who else lives up here?" he asked, looking around her down the dim hallway.

"Mickey and E are in that room," Lorelai said, pointing to the room next to his. "The bathroom is there," she continued, pointing to another door, "and that's it. You can start by going down to the stables and making sure that Amos doesn't need any help with the horses."

"Horses?"

"Yeah!" she said brightly. "Med school's probably starting to look pretty good, huh?" she added before ducking out.

Owen stood in the little room and looked around. There was a bed, a small dresser, and a sad nightstand. Lorelai was right, med school was starting to look pretty good.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I do not own anyone who you might recognize. Mickey and Elizabeth are owned by Lindsay.

A/N: Sarah has been a kick-ass beta-reader on this, as well as many previous stories. She keeps me honest and on-target and what more could one ask for in a beta-reader? Thanks are due also to Lindsay for being the one who came up with this idea. She's the one who demanded that I write it down and for that I'm very grateful. She's got good taste.

A week later, Mickey was again set up in the kitchen with her books. It was late afternoon, the rooms upstairs were clean and she was trying to concentrate with Elizabeth babbling in the background.

"Please," she said to her daughter. "Please just be quiet for ten minutes, okay? Mommy needs to study."

Elizabeth regarded her with a look that seemed to say, "Well, maaaaybe….nah. Not gonna happen."

Mickey let her head fall into her hands. She was never going to pass. She'd been foolish to think that she could. The last year she'd spent in high school had been all about making herself invisible. She couldn't remember anything any of her teachers had said. It was hopeless.

"Mick?"

Mickey's head snapped up to see Lorelai before her. She hadn't heard the clip of her heels which told her that she really must not have been paying attention.

"Uh-huh?" Mickey answered, feeling like a wild animal backed into a corner.

"This is Caroline, I've just hired her to be the upstairs maid."

For the first time Mickey noticed that there was a woman standing behind Lorelai. "Hi," she said. "Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you, too," Caroline answered.

"Caroline lives in Stars Hollow and actually used to work for us at the Independence Inn. She's starting tomorrow, isn't that great?"

Mickey gave the two women a smile that she hoped conveyed happiness. "That's great," she said.

Lorelai gave her a funny look and then took Caroline back into her office. Mickey drooped over her book as E ratcheted up the banging. Just as she was starting to force herself to concentrate the back door opened and Owen came in wearing a pair of soft denim jeans, a Henley shirt, a fleece jacket, and some work boots. He looked as gorgeous as he did on the first day they'd met, but Mickey refused to let herself look.

"Seen Lorelai?" he asked without preamble.

"In her office. She's interviewing someone."

"What job?" he asked.

"The cleaning job, for the guest rooms," Mickey told him impatiently, wishing everyone would just leave her alone.

"You going somewhere?" he asked.

"What are you talking about?" she demanded. "Where on earth would I go?"

He lifted his hands in surrender and said, "Hey, I'm just asking. It's your job she's interviewing for, right? Does that mean you don't work here anymore? I'm just asking."

Mickey felt foolish and angry. "Oh," she said. "No, I still work here, I'll just be in the kitchen full time."

"Gotcha," he said. Then, wanting to change the subject, he said, "Lorelai told me she had some errands that needed to be done. Do you know what they are?"

"Sorry," Mickey replied shaking her head. "She's just wrapping up with the new maid, though, so if you hang for a minute you might catch her."

As she always did when Owen entered the room, E had quieted down immensely. Owen caught sight of her and bent down so that he didn't look too big and scary. "How's it going?" he asked the baby.

E cocked her head and stared at him as if to say, "Look, buddy, I don't know who you think you are, but that is some very weird hair, okay?" Mickey watched them as Owen stuck the first two fingers of his left hand through the slats of the playpen. E grasped them and was immediately pleased with herself for doing so.

"Ba-ba-ba!" she called joyously.

"What's that mean?" Owen asked.

"Not a thing," Mickey answered.

"You don't think she's trying to talk?"

"I think it's a little early. Let's get teeth in her head first," Mickey said dryly.

"Still studying?" he asked, nodding at the books in front of her.

"Yeah," she said sounding defeated.

He nodded, wondering if he should offer more help. Before he could decide, Lorelai came back and said, "Owen, great. I've got a list here for you. What's the weather like out there?"

"Cool," he answered, "but nothing major."

"Great. Once Thanksgiving passes it can get really bad, fairly quickly," Lorelai said, almost to herself. "Okay," she exclaimed, catching herself, "You've been here a week, it's time you got to know the town. Mickey, can you take him in and introduce him around? I've got supplies that need to be picked up from Doose's and Luke's."

"Supplies from Luke's?" Mickey asked.

Lorelai shifted her eyes away and said, "Yes," she said a little defensively, "my lunch."

"Your lunch," Mickey repeated. "But I don't – "

"Mick," Lorelai interrupted, "please just pick it up, okay? Here's the list of things from Doose's. If it's nice out, you should put E in the stroller and make it a nice walk," she finished before leaving.

Mickey and Owen looked at each other. Finally, Mickey stood and went to the walk-in closet where she pulled out the stroller and E's winter coat. As she lifted her daughter out of the pen and tried to wriggle her little arms into the coat, Owen knelt down to where they were and helped zip her up. Elizabeth immediately began to squirm and fuss. When she finally was wearing her little blue jacket, Mickey deposited her into the stroller and stuck a green hat on head along with two green mittens. Standing to inspect her work, she said after a second, "She really does look like a boy."

Owen laughed and helped her into her own jacket. It was a ratty old thing she'd found at the thrift store. Lorelai had offered to give her one of her old coats but Mickey wouldn't hear of it. Taking things for her daughter was one thing, accepting charity for herself was out of the question.

The short walk to town was a silent one. Mickey pushed the stroller while Owen took in his surroundings and E babbled quietly to herself. At Doose's Mickey introduced Owen to Taylor. Taylor had always been cool to Mickey, if not outright distrustful of her. Mickey thought that the only thing that kept him from asking where her scarlet "A" was was the knowledge of what Lorelai would do to him. She moved away from him and bent down to check on E.

Taylor was happily pumping Owen's hand, clearly delighted to meet an upstanding new member of the community. Mickey rolled her eyes as she caught part of what Taylor was saying in a confidential tone. "Just, keep your distance from her. She got one young man into trouble and I've no doubt she'll do it again. You know how girls like that are."

Then, to her utter astonishment she heard, "No, actually I don't. It seems to me that when you're left on your own with a kid, the most responsible thing you can do is try to find a place to live and a good job. I think she's done both. And it also seems to me that she was the one left 'in trouble' by someone, otherwise whoever it was would be here right now."

Mickey snuck a glance over her shoulder to see Taylor, mouth open, clearly unable to come up with a reply. With a disgusted shake of his head, Owen left to collect the items on Lorelai's list. Taylor spun around in a huff, gave her the stink eye and headed for his office in the back of the store.

"Mommy's a harlot," Mickey whispered to E, still playing with her daughter's feet. Elizabeth giggled and blew her a raspberry.

"Hello, _dar_-ling!" Mickey heard behind her.

"Hey, Miss Patty," Mickey answered as she turned. "How's it going?"

"Fine," she trilled as she stooped over Elizabeth. "Next year, my darling! Next year I'll have you in my tumbling class, mark my words! You're a natural, an absolute natural."

Elizabeth was, as always, delighted to see Miss Patty. She always kicked her feet out in excitement which Patty took to mean that the baby was a natural dancer. "She'll be there," Mickey promised, although she was skeptical about a tumbling class for one-year-olds.

"Hey, Mick, I can't find – "

"Well!" Patty interrupted. Owen had come back to ask a question and was starting to regret it. Miss Patty sidled over to him and purred, "I don't believe we've been introduced, my dear boy."

"Miss Patty, this is Owen Melville," Mickey told her. "He's Jackson's cousin's son."

"Delectable," Patty murmured with narrowed eyes and pursed lips, clearly imagining very descriptive and wonderful things.

Owen shifted a little under her stare and said to Mickey, "I can't find the condensed milk."

"It's in the baking aisle," she told him.

"Great!" he said, uncomfortable. "I'll go get it and we'll be set." With that, he made for the aisles.

"Oh, honey," Miss Patty said, recovering. "That is one fine specimen."

Mickey appeared to be considering, although she secretly agreed. "I guess," she said, noncommittally.

"You guess," Patty cooed. "Honey if you have to guess it's been too long."

"Ew," Mickey said. "I'm never doing _that_ again, no matter how good the," she winced, completely grossed out, "specimen is."

Miss Patty laughed as if someone who was mildly retarded had just told a joke. Then she said, "We'll see," before paying for her plums and leaving.

When Patty was gone Owen found her again. He was carrying the bag of groceries and looking relieved that they were alone. His eyes kept darting around as if looking for the next incoming.

"Ready?" she asked.

"Yeah. Where to next?"

"Luke's. Lorelai said she called in her order, all we have to do is pick it up."

They crossed the street in silence and made their way to the diner. As they walked, Mickey felt a smile tug at her face. Their last interaction had been embarrassing, yes, but Luke had been instrumental in getting her the job with Lorelai and she'd never forget that. He'd listened to her when she'd needed someone and he had passed no judgments. She considered him to be her first friend in Stars Hollow.

The bells jingled cheerfully as they entered the diner and Mickey saw Luke behind the counter as always. Mickey and Owen got to the counter with Elizabeth in the stroller and Mickey said, "Hey, Luke."

Happy to see that she was wearing a coat with no evidence of leakage, Luke grunted, "Hey, Mick, what's up?"

"Not much. This is Owen Melville, he's related to Jackson and he's going to be helping out at the Inn for a while." Luke eyed Owen and then extended his hand.

"Nice to meet you," Owen said.

"You, too," replied Luke.

"And Lorelai said she called in a lunch order. We're supposed to pick it up."

"Yeah, it's here. I'll put in on her tab." Luke handed over the bag of food.

"Great," Mickey said with a smile. They were about to turn away when she added, "By the way, I still have your shirt." Owen's eyebrows almost hit the ceiling. "It's cleaned and ready to go, but E won't give it up. She's sort of sleeping with it. I'm going to keep trying to get it away from her, but she cries if she doesn't have it, so it might be a while."

"Keep it," Luke ordered, looking and feeling more uncomfortable that he ever had in his entire life. "I got plenty." His eyes skidded from Mickey to Owen and back again. "Really. Let her have it."

"No, I can't do that. You'll get it back eventually, I swear."

"Whenever, okay?" Luke said firmly, just wanting the conversation to be over. He peered over the counter to where E was in her stroller and she stuck her tongue out at him and called, "Ba-ba!"

"Thanks, Luke," Mickey said. "We appreciate it."

"Don't sweat it," he answered, pulling back with the familiar look of fear plastered on his face. "Just get going, okay? It's getting cold out and you don't want her to catch anything."

Mickey suspected that he wanted them gone not because he worried about E getting a cold, but she thought he was sweet to give them the shirt so she said, "Okay. And thanks again."

When they were back outside and on their way Owen said, "So is he like your ex-boyfriend?"

Mickey stopped walking. "What?!"

"What?" he asked, startled at her tone.

"Could you be a bigger lunkhead?"

"Why are you yelling at me?"

"Because I can't even begin to think of a response to such a ridiculous question." With that, Mickey turned and kept walking, speeding up with the hope that she could leave him behind. Ex-boyfriend. What the hell was the matter with him?

"Hey!" Owen called catching up to her. "I'm sorry. Sometimes I just blurt out what I'm thinking without really…" he trailed off and she finished for him, "_Thinking_?"

"Yeah," he answered lamely.

She stopped again and looked at him. He really did look miserable, as if he knew that what he'd just said made him an ass. "No, Luke is not my ex-boyfriend. He's the first person I met when I came here and he helped me get the job at the Dragonfly. That is all."

"What about the shirt?" Owen pressed, not understanding why it was important to him.

"E puked on one of his shirts and I took it home to wash. End of story. Besides, he's _ancient_!"

They started walking again, slower this time. "Sorry."

"You should be. Jumping to conclusions like that. I mean, did you think that E was his or did you think that I'd be jumping into the sack with someone new while I had a baby at home?" She stared at him, daring him to choose one of the two options she'd put out there.

Owen was not stupid, though. "Neither. I thought maybe you'd gone out a few times and it didn't work out."

"In my experience people don't think that teen moms just 'go out' with guys they date."

"Well I did. So I'm sorry if _you_ jumped to the wrong conclusions about _me_. Not everyone is out to get you, you know."

"Whatever," she muttered as they came to the Dragonfly.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I do not own anyone who you might recognize. Mickey and Elizabeth are owned by Lindsay.

A/N: Sarah has been a kick-ass beta-reader on this, as well as many previous stories. She keeps me honest and on-target and what more could one ask for in a beta-reader? Thanks are due also to Lindsay for being the one who came up with this idea. She's the one who demanded that I write it down and for that I'm very grateful.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Mickey and Owen didn't speak the rest of the day after their fight about Luke. When Mickey delivered Lorelai's lunch, the older woman had asked the most bizarre question. "Did he say anything?"

Mickey thought for a second and then said, "Who?"

"Luke, did Luke say anything?"

"He said he'd put it on your tab."

Lorelai leaned back in her chair. "Oh."

"Do you need anything else?"

"No, I'm good," Lorelai said, snapping out of herself. "Thanks."

Mickey nodded and went back to the kitchen. The test was three weeks away and she needed every second of study time she could get if she was going to pass it. The rest of the day went quickly. Mickey loved the fast pace of the kitchen, creating something beautiful that was also filling and delicious pleased her to no end. Sookie was a wonderful mentor and she always felt so fulfilled when working, that it more than made up for how exhausting it was.

That night, when Mickey had dragged herself and E up the two flights of stairs to their room, she saw that Owen's door was ajar. Stiffening, she passed it without a glance and swiftly entered their room and closed the door behind them. The stink from E's diaper made it necessary to immediately address the problem. While she was up to her arms in poo, someone knocked on the door. E started to squirm.

"Come in," Mickey called.

"Eeeeeeeee!" Elizabeth squealed. She loved it when her diaper came off.

Owen entered and blanched at the sight of E's bare bottom. "You're busy," he said. "I can come back."

"Wait!" she said. "Hand me that cream. I can't quite reach it." Mickey finished using the wet wipes to clean off the poopy butt and reached for the diaper rash cream he held out to her.

Owen watched as she expertly slathered the cream onto her daughter's skin, then struggled to get the new diaper on. Elizabeth hated this part, though, and she began to whine and wriggle. "Stop it, E. Let me just get this one and we can go to sleep."

With frustration etched across her tight face, Mickey finally looked up at Owen and said, "Distract her, will you?"

Bending down so that he was kneeling at E's head, Owen started playing peek-a-boo. Elizabeth quieted to study this new development. Mickey quickly finished with the diaper and pulled a pair of footy pajamas from a dresser drawer.

With more skill than Owen had anticipated, Mickey stripped E of her t-shirt and had two legs into the p.j.s before he knew it. With the legs done, Mickey lifted the baby up and held her under her arm pits and said, "Grab the rest of it and get her arms in."

Owen did as he was told, surprised at how difficult it was to dress something so small. Finally, they zipped up the red train pajamas and Mickey said, "Done!"

Elizabeth looked at them both as if they were traitors. Then she crawled over to some blocks and started to bang them together and Owen said, "I really am sorry about today. I was completely out of line."

Mickey softened a little bit and said, "It's okay."

"So, what do you guys do now?"

"Play until she falls asleep and then I study."

"Do you want some help? With the studying, I mean?"

"That would be great," Mickey told him. So they played with Elizabeth until it was clear that she was getting tired, then Mickey sent him back to his room because she knew the E would never fall asleep if he was still around to play with. Finally, at about nine-thirty, Elizabeth drifted off with Luke's plaid shirt clutched in her little fingers and Mickey opened her door and called softly, "Owen."

He appeared again, this time in a pair of flannel pajama bottoms and an old t-shirt. They studied together until about midnight and then Mickey made him leave. She had to be up at five to prep for breakfast and she could barely keep her eyes open. This became their routine for the next few weeks as Mickey prepared to take the G.E.D.

They'd finish work and get upstairs about at about seven, then they'd play with E until she was sleepy and then Mickey would make Owen leave. Then, once E was asleep he'd come back and they'd study until about midnight. It was grueling, but Mickey wouldn't have it any other way.

One night, Owen looked up from where he was diagramming a sentence to ask, "When is the test again?"

"Saturday morning," she answered, leaning back against the bed. They were seated on the floor as always and Mickey leaned her head back to check on E. She was sleeping hard with Luke's shirt draped across her legs.

"Three days."

"Yep," she agreed, feeling a bit like a caged animal again. She was never going to pull it off.

"You'll be fine," he told her and she scoffed.

"It's late," Mickey said, glancing at her alarm clock. "I have to be up in five hours."

"Let's call it a night, then," Owen agreed as he stood up. Before leaving he gave her one last look and said, "I know you can do this."

She waved him out and dropped to the bed still wearing her clothes. In her sleep, Elizabeth sneezed.

The next morning, Mickey woke up to her alarm clock and hazily rolled out of bed. Since she got up so early to be in the kitchen, she and Owen never fought over the bathroom. Placing a still-sleeping Elizabeth in her car seat/carrier, Mickey carried her to the bathroom where she deposited her on the closed toilet seat and turned on the shower.

When she finally got out of the shower she was feeling more awake but the general state of exhaustion hadn't passed. Elizabeth was still sleeping which was nothing unusual. Mickey brought her back to their room and put the carrier down while she dressed. Now that she was in the kitchen full time, she'd been winding her long red ponytail into a knot which she then secured with an elastic band. When that was done and she was dressed in her jeans and t-shirt, she picked up the still sleeping E and made her way downstairs. The Inn was quiet except for the kitchen which was already bustling with energy. Mickey helped herself to a cup of coffee and set E down in the playpen to finish her sleep.

The sneeze that Mickey had heard the night before gradually worsened throughout the day until by the time they went upstairs E was alternately crying, coughing or sneezing. Mickey was beside herself over what to do. Owen knocked when he heard them come up and Mickey answered ready to fall apart.

"She won't stop crying!" she told him. "I don't know what to do! I've called the doctor, given the medicine and she won't stop!" Owen pushed passed her and picked E up. The baby was crying and drooling and sneezing and it was a mess.

"Why don't I watch her for a while and you can study in my room."

Mickey looked at him with open adoration. "Really?"

"Absolutely. Go, we'll be fine," he told her, feeling much less sure of himself that he let on.

Mickey went to his room and studied for a couple of hours by herself but over the next two days her world gradually fell apart. When she'd get back to her room at night, E wouldn't want to go to sleep so she'd be up all night trying to calm her daughter down. The doctor said it was a combination of a cold and the teething process which was very painful.

Whatever the problem, for the next two days and nights Elizabeth did nothing but scream. When Mickey arrived at the testing place on Saturday morning she was worn out, sleep deprived and felt like she was hanging on by a very thin thread.

Owen stayed with Elizabeth that morning and they spent the time in their little room. He tried, unsuccessfully, to get her to calm down. Finally, feeling that he was at the end of his own rope, he bundled her up in her winter coat, put her in the stroller and set off for Doose's. He knew she had a cold, but he also knew that teething was part of the problem. There had to be something you could buy that would help.

Finding the baby section he quickly scanned the items while Elizabeth wailed. Finally, he saw something that might work. It was a tube of gel that you put on a baby's gums that supposedly numbed the area. Elizabeth's face was beet red from all the crying and Owen knelt down and opened the tube. Slathering some of the gel onto his index finger, he pushed it into her mouth and rubbed it on her upper and lower gums. After a few seconds a look of surprise came over her face and she stopped crying. She stared at him as if thinking, "Well, damn. It doesn't hurt so bad now."

Taylor rounded the corner just then and said with shocked indignation, "Young man, I hope you're planning on buying that!"

Luke, who'd heard Elizabeth's pitiful wails when he'd first entered the store, had headed toward the noise even thought it went against his better judgment. He arrived just in time to see Taylor bearing down on Owen and E. "Of course I'm going to buy it, Taylor, I just wanted to get her some relief as soon as possible."

Taylor scowled and left in a huff, while Luke headed toward them. "Where's Mickey," he asked suspiciously.

"She's taking the G.E.D. this morning. I'm babysitting."

"Everything okay?" Luke wondered, taking in E's red, teary face and Owen's look of exhaustion.

"She's teething and has a cold. It's been nonstop crazy but I think this stuff will help."

Luke nodded and then said, "Have you seen Lorelai lately?"

"Yeah, but I work for her, so I see her daily," Owen shrugged.

"Have you guys been busy?"

"No more than usual."

"Huh. All right, well bring Mickey in to celebrate when she gets back."

"Celebrate?"

"The G.E.D." Luke said. "It's a big deal. Whatever she and the kid wants is on the house."

"I'll tell her," Owen said.

Once back at the Inn, Owen took her upstairs and E was able to fall asleep on the bed, something she hadn't done for three days. Owen used the quiet time to straighten up Mickey's room. He piled all the toys into a basket and put all the dirty clothes into another, then straightened the clean diapers and organized the makeshift changing table. When he was finished he got a book from his room and sat down on the floor near the bed so that he could keep on eye on the sleeping infant and began to read.

When Mickey came home two hours later she walked into the room, saw that E was sound asleep and the room was neatly organized and immediately burst into tears. "I'm a terrible mother!" she wailed.

Owen stood up and led her over to the bed. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm gone for one morning and you've got her sleeping and the room is clean and I just…just," she gasped, "failed the test!"

"No, it'll be okay," he soothed as she down and put her head in her hands.

"It won't be okay, it will never be okay. I don't know what I was thinking!"

He sat next to her and put an arm around her shoulders. She looked as if someone had just punched her in the stomach. Her face was drawn and pale, the dark circles under her eyes looked like bruises and her body had gone slack as she cried on shoulder. "What are we going to do? If I can't pass this test then I don't have a job and we'll have to leave and E will grow up without a mother she can respect." The last word came out in a choke, as if Mickey had been thinking about this for a long time.

Owen hugged her to him and said, "I'm sure you did fine, but this is not the last time in the history of the world to take the test. We can get you scheduled for the next one and you'll do great. It's not your fault. E got sick and you did what you had to do."

Mickey quieted down and pulled back feeling drained. All the frustration, anger, and anticipation from the last two days had left her completely done in. "I think I'm going to lay down for a little while," she told him.

Owen stood up and took the laundry basket. "I was going to do some laundry, let me throw some of yours in, too, okay? Relax," he finished as he closed the door behind him.


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I do not own anyone who you might recognize. Mickey and Elizabeth are owned by Lindsay.

A/N: Sarah has been a kick-ass beta-reader on this, as well as many previous stories. She keeps me honest and on-target and what more could one ask for in a beta-reader? Thanks are due also to Lindsay for being the one who came up with this idea. She's the one who demanded that I write it down and for that I'm very grateful.

For some reason, ignored some of the updates I had made in this chapter before uploading. Here it is again, with fewer misspellings and grammatical errors. Thanks, Sar.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

That afternoon Owen filled Lorelai and Sookie in on Mickey's belief that she'd failed, and the women decided to do what they could to boost her out of her funk. With glum reluctance and much prodding she finally agreed to a Girl's Night later that day.

By six o'clock that evening, Lorelai had assembled the key women of Stars Hollow in her living room in the hope that they could cheer Mickey up.

Miss Patty clutched Davey to her ample breast while Babette helped E suck on an ice cube. Once Mickey had made the teething problem known they had more advice on than she knew what to do with. Rory, Lane and Mickey sat across the couch with a pizza draped over their laps as Lorelai re-entered the living room with a tray of glasses.

Mickey looked exhausted but entertained by the women around her. The dark circles beneath her eyes weren't as pronounced, Lorelai discovered as she passed the drinks around. Her pale skin was almost translucent and it made her dark red curls look like a forest fire. Lorelai hoped that evening would help get her back to normal.

"It's that zsa-zsa-zing!" Babette squealed at Miss Patty, clearly having a conversation of their own.

"Honey, don't I know it?" Patty drawled back.

Sookie looked vaguely disturbed and Lorelai glanced over and quickly addressed the situation. "Hey now. We've got under-agers in the house. Let's keep it clean."

"None of the under-agers speak English. Let's finally get some good girl talk going," Patty simpered as she wriggled her eyebrows and let her red mouth part in a friendly leer.

"That's right, doll," Babette added enthusiastically. "How does that song go? Let's talk about SEX, baby!"

"Babette!" Lorelai admonished, trying to keep a straight face.

"After all," Babette continued as if Lorelai had not said a word, "we've all tried it at this point, why not talk about it?"

"We'll be like those ladies on The View, but less stuck up," Miss Patty put in.

"Not so fast," Sookie interjected. "Not _all_ of us have tried it."

All heads swiveled in Lane's direction.

"Hey!" Lane cried.

"This is ridiculous," Rory said. "You have to have a consensus in order to change the topic so radically. I think I can assure you that there is no consensus."

"But you were going to get the first question!" Babette said with playful indignance.

"What?" Rory croaked with astonishment.

"Rory, honey, you've _gotta_ tell us how Dean was," Patty demanded, still holding Davey.

Rory's face registered horror as she put her hand to her forehead and said, "Oh, God!"

"Well, you didn't think we didn't know, did you?" Babette asked. "The whole town knows and what _we_ want to know is how was it?"

"That's right," Patty added. "Inquiring minds."

Where Lorelai might have once jumped in to save her daughter from this baptism by fire, she held back to see what would happen. Rory was after all an adult and didn't really need her mother's protection.

The silence held until Rory said with exasperation, "I don't know! I don't have anything to compare it to. It was okay, I guess."

"Just okay? How big was it?"

"Okay!" Lorelai said, finally deciding enough was enough. "That'll do. Let's move on."

"All right, Lorelai, your turn," Patty announced.

"My turn?" she repeated with a squeak.

"_When_ are you going to climb into that man's _pants_?!" Patty asked.

Lorelai felt her knees give and she collapsed on the ottoman near the coffee table. "Excuse me?" she asked weakly.

"You've been making eyes at each other for umpteen years, doll," Babette agreed. "Give the poor guy some action!"

"Time to move on again!" Lorelai practically spit out.

The only ones left were Sookie, Lane and Mickey. Sookie was happily married and no one really wanted to know what the sex was like between she and Jackson, Lane didn't have a sex life that anyone could determine so that meant Mickey was up.

"That Owen is one fine piece of mancake," Babette told her with a knowing nod. "All that blonde hair, big gray eyes, the crooked nose and that mouth! It makes me think of all the things he could do to a gal."

"We're just friends," Mickey told them. Even as she said it, though, she could remember with perfect clarity how she'd felt pressed tight against him while she'd cried on his shoulder. His arms had felt strong, his hands big and capable, and she'd melted into him. "Really," she insisted, with more assurance than she felt.

"Lord, you're as bad as your employer over there," Patty said, with a wave toward Lorelai.

"Hey!" Lorelai said, trying to defend herself.

"Oh, you had your chance," Patty answered with another dismissive wave.

"We really are just friends," Mickey said. "Besides, I'm not ready for anything like that. One kid is enough until I at least turn twenty."

"Oh, honey, that's why God invented the Pill!" Patty trilled.

"So you haven't done _any_thing with him yet?" Rory interrupted.

"We're friends!" Mickey insisted as she avoided everyone's eyes.

"Friends can sometimes turn into something else entirely," Lane suddenly said from her spot next to Mickey.

For the second time that evening all heads swiveled in her direction and Lane found herself under the scrutiny of them all.

"You've been holding out on us!" Babette exclaimed.

"Spill it, sister!" Patty demanded. She was getting so worked up over the possibility of gossip that Sookie took Davey away for fear that he might get dropped.

"Zack and I sort of…you know," Lane said, trailing off with a delicate blush.

"No!" Rory gasped. "You didn't tell me!"

"You're not around much and I don't have any other girl friends so I didn't tell anyone."

"So you're living together as roommates but sleeping together, too?" Lorelai asked.

"It's complicated," Lane admitted.

"And you're definitely using protection, right?" Rory asked, ever the prudent one.

"Of course," Lane said.

"And how is it? That Zach is one hot tamale," Patty said appreciatively.

"It's really good," Lane said, another soft blush stealing across her face. "Better than I thought it would be."

Patty sat back and breathed a sigh of satisfaction. "That's when you know it's something special, especially if you don't have anything to compare it to. Well, Mick, you know how it is."

"Me?" Mickey's squeak sounded like Lorelai's earlier. "Not quite."

"You didn't have a relationship with E's father?" Sookie asked. They were all a little curious, but no one had ever pried into that part of Mickey's life before.

"Not quite. I mean, yeah, we went out a few times but after we had sex, he was gone faster than you could say…" Mickey groped for a word as her eyes settled on her kid "…Elizabeth."

"Does he know? About E?" Lorelai asked.

"He knows I was pregnant," she told them, crossing her arms and feeling exposed and a little raw. The rejection had hurt and retelling it brought up all those old feelings again. "He never tried to contact me after school let out and he never came to the hospital while we were there. It would have taken a phone call to my parents to find out where I was, but he never called."

"And your parents? Where are they?"

"Home," Mickey replied automatically. "Their home," she then corrected herself, holding her arms tighter across her chest.

"Do they know you're here?" Rory asked.

Mickey thought about it. She'd contacted the halfway house with her forwarding information after she'd gotten the job at the Dragonfly. "If they wanted to find me, they could. Trust me, though, we're better off," she finished with a quick nod.

xxx

While the ladies of Stars Hollow gossiped in Lorelai Gilmore's living room, their counterparts lolled on the stools over at Luke's. Jackson, Owen and Zach all sat at the counter while Luke stood behind it.

"Seriously, we're just friends," Owen insisted as Jackson nodded.

"Yeah, Sookie and I were just friends once upon a time," he said. "And Luke's been friends with Lorelai for longer than anyone can remember."

"What are you implying?" Luke asked, suddenly looking alarmed.

"Dude," Zach answered allowing the single word to fully express his utter disbelief of their platonic relationship.

"What exactly does 'dude' mean?" Luke threatened.

"Well, come on," Jackson said.

"Yeah, you're always asking about her or she's asking about you. It's very weird," Owen said.

"She asks about me?" Luke replied far too quickly. The three men on the other side of the counter guffawed at him and Luke quickly regained his upper hand. "What about you jokers?" he asked pointing to Zach and Owen. "No matter how many times you say your just friends I've got my eye on _both_ of you."

"Lane and I aren't just friends anymore," Zach told them with a wink and a nod.

"Dude!" Owen said, putting his hand out for a high-five.

Zach slapped it and Jackson gave him a friendly punch on the shoulder. "Good for you!" he said. "But if you hurt her I'll have to kill you. Just so you know."

"Fair enough," Zach answered.

"That goes double for me," Luke told him.

"How can it go double for you?" Zach asked, always one for a friendly debate. "If I'm dead, I'm dead."

"Jackson and I go back a long ways," Luke said. "If I ask him nicely he'll torture you until I can get there to help him finish the job."

"Understood," Zach nodded.

"And that goes for you, too!" Luke said waving a finger in Owen's face.

"We're friends! That's it, I swear."

"Swear all you like," Jackson told him. "If Lorelai commands that you be gotten rid of, Luke and I are the perfect ones for the job."

"What about you?" Owen said to Luke.

"Me?"

"Yeah, you and your 'just friends' act. If she walked in here right now and told you to follow her home to get some nooky, you'd be all, 'yes, ma'am!'."

Jackson and Zach laughed while Luke waived his hand around as if to say, "yeah, yeah, laugh it up."

"Luke, you know he's right. I will never understand what the deal is between you two," Jackson said.

"There's no deal," Luke insisted.

"Right," Zach scoffed. "Even _I_ know there's a deal."

"All right, Luke's is closed. Get out."

Owen and Zack continue to snicker as they paid up and headed for the door. Jackson lingered and when they were gone said, "Luke…"

"I don't wanna talk about it."

"But, if I were privy to some information that might pertain to one Lorelai Gilmore and someone she might secretly like, would you be interested in hearing about it?"

Luke stared at Jackson for a long minute before answering. "That would depend," he finally hedged.

"What if I told you that Lorelai had a dream about you."

Luke lost all color in his face but quickly regained his composure. "How do you know this?"

"She told Sookie who told me. Now, if this gets out, we'll be roommates 'cause Sook will absolutely throw me out. But, passing on a little information that is never acted upon isn't _so_ terrible is it?"

"Absolutely not," Luke replied as his color returned and then went up a notch.

"Apparently, the only reason Lorelai told Sookie about this dream is because she's so much in denial that the significance was lost on her. Sookie picked up on it immediately, though, and told me about it."

"If you don't get to it in the next five seconds I'm going to hurt you," Luke promised.

"Okay, okay," Jackson agreed. "So the dream started at the Dragonfly. She was having a bad day what with the stress of paying the bills and worrying about everything and she's sitting at her desk and she starts to cry."

Luke's heart constricted a little at the image. "She started to cry in her dream?"

"Yeah," Jackson said. "So, she's sitting at her desk crying when the door opens and she looks up and it's Christopher."

"Christopher," Luke repeated with narrowed eyes.

Jackson nodded and continued. "So Christopher arrives and walks over gives her a hug and tells her it's all going to be okay – typical chick stuff."

"Right," Luke said, on the verge of losing interest.

"And when Lorelai looks up again, it's _you_," Jackson declared, knowing a dramatic moment when he saw one.

"Me?" Luke faltered, trying to picture it. "Christopher turned into _me_?"

"Can you believe it? She told Sookie as if it was nothing, but I think it definitely means something."

Luke stared into space for a second. Could it be…?

"Well, I gotta get going," Jackson announced.

Luke waved goodbye in a daze and watched as Jackson left the diner.


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I do not own anyone who you might recognize. Mickey and Elizabeth are owned by Lindsay. Owen is owned by me.

A/N: Thanks to Sarah for being such a great beta-reader (although she claims not to have found any flaws with this chapter). She keeps me honest and I can always hear the characters better after I listen to her. And thank you, Lindsay, for coming up with the whole idea and then brow-beating me into writing it. Good call by you.

xoxoxo

About six weeks later, Mickey had finally come out of her depression. She laughed again and took pleasure in the little things like counting the teeth in E's mouth, creating a perfect crème brulé, inventing recipes of her own and just enjoying the company of the women around her. She'd never had such good girl friends before and she really appreciated them.

In the back of her mind, though, was still the knowledge that she would have to retake the G.E.D. The scores took six to eight weeks to be delivered and in that sixth week Mickey began to watch the mail like a hawk. She had resolved to know exactly how bad she'd done in order to know exactly how much harder she'd have to work.

Sure enough, that Wednesday, Lorelai sauntered into the kitchen fanning herself with a long white envelope.

Mickey had been cutting the ends off of a pound of fresh green beans for dinner that night when she looked up from the chaos around her and saw Lorelai. She couldn't breathe. She knew an official looking envelope when she saw one. Lorelai smiled at her and said, "This came for you in the mail. I think you've been waiting for it."

With wide, dark eyes, Mickey accepted the letter from Lorelai with just the tips of her fingers, as if she was afraid it might burn her. She stared at it for a long time, turning it over in her hands, examining the seal on the back, the return address on the front, her name, written officially in the center, Mick Jagger Stone.

"I can't," Mickey said in a whisper. "I can't open it."

"Of course you can!" Lorelai replied.

"You do it," Mickey demanded with a deep breath of air. "And tell me the bad news quickly. Don't try to sugar-coat it."

With a quick eye-roll, Lorelai took the letter back from Mickey and quickly ripped it open. Mickey winced at the noise. Sookie had stopped what she was doing and came to put a supportive arm around Mickey. Mickey held her breath.

Lorelai extracted the single sheet from the now-shredded envelope and began to read silently. Mickey closed her eyes and tucked her chin into her chest. She felt Sookie's arm tighten protectively.

They all waited for several seconds in silence.

"Well," Lorelai said quietly. "It looks like…YOU PASSED!" she finished with a shout.

"Oh, my God!" Sookie yelled before letting go of Mickey to grab Lorelai's hands so that they could jump up and down in unison while yelling and screaming their delight. The letter fell to the ground where Mickey stooped to pick it up.

Scanning the contents, she felt all the blood rush from her face as she read what Lorelai had just told her. She'd passed. How in the world it had happened, she'd never know, but there it was in black and white. Slowly, the world tilted and she felt warm tears flood her eyes. She'd done it. With a kid and just a room in a hotel as a home, she'd done it!

Sookie and Lorelai quickly saw that Mickey was seeing for herself that she'd passed and jumped over to where she was so that she could join them in the jumping and screaming, which she did with abandon.

For the rest of the day, Mickey walked around with a grin on her face. She was officially a high school graduate. From now on, the sky was the limit. She wished she'd run into Owen, so she could tell him the good news but she couldn't find him.

After dinner, Mickey took E upstairs to their little room. It was mid-March and the baby was growing like crazy. She immediately crawled over to her basket of toys and began taking them out one by one to drop on the floor near her feet.

Mickey smiled and went to the closet. When they'd first moved in she'd found a stack of old picture frames on the floor at the back and if they were still there, she wanted to find one that would fit her letter.

As she dug, she kept glancing over her shoulder to make sure that E was okay. The baby ignored her, though, and kept her attention focused on the toys.

Finally finding what she was looking for, Mickey pulled the old box out of the closet and sat on the floor looking for a frame that would be the right size. She quickly found one, cleaned it up, and inserted the letter. Tomorrow she would bug Owen about a hammer and nail to hang it up. For now, she put it on her dresser and shoved the box of frames back into her closet.

E squealed at her with a solemn expression and called, "A-ma-ma!" Shocked, Mickey gaped at her daughter but before she could respond to what may have been E's first word, a knock sounded at the door.

Mickey pulled it open to find Owen standing there, hands in pockets, looking disheveled after a day outside working, but with a sly grin on his face. Sheepishly, Mickey ducked her head and said, "You heard?"

"It's all Lorelai and Sookie can talk about. Congratulations," he said with genuine warmth and affection. His silvery gray eyes seemed to see right through her dark brown ones. "I knew you could do it."

With a soft blush, Mickey ducked her head again, not comfortable with the eye contact. "Thanks. Want to come in and play?" she asked, gesturing to the toys on the floor.

"Definitely, let me just clean up," he answered pointing at the bathroom.

Mickey left her room door ajar and she quickly heard water running in the bathroom. When he returned, Owen was freshly showered and smelling godly. How had she never noticed this before? Possibly because since he's been around you've been focused on passing that test, she reminded herself. Still, she made a mental note to investigate his shower gel tomorrow.

They sat down on the floor, she still in the clothes she'd worn to work, he in soft flannel pajama pants and a t-shirt. Her hair was still wound tightly into a knot and it was long past starting to hurt, so while Owen occupied E, she undid her hair and reformed it into a loose braid.

"You know, just before you got here, she said her first word," Mickey told him.

"No way," Owen said, glancing at her. He was holding a building block out to E, who was concentrating hard on a pile that she was creating.

"Yeah, she said, 'ma-ma'."

Owen looked over at E and then picked her up and put her in his lap. She immediately began to wriggle but before she could escape, he said, "E did you talk?" At her name she looked up at him in concentration. "Can you say it again? Say it for me. Ma-ma. Ma-ma. Ma-ma."

The adults stared at E with anticipation until the baby shrieked her frustration at being held for so long. Owen was forced to put her back down. "Figures," he said with mock anguish. "The mothers get all the moments."

Mickey laughed and said, "Hey, I wanted to ask you something."

"Shoot."

"As a thank you for helping me out so much with the studying, I wanted to take you to a movie sometime. Lorelai said she'd baby-sit whenever so we don't have to worry about E. What do you think?" Mickey held her breath for the second time that day. She hadn't planned this, it had just come out. Talking to boys had never been easy, but Owen wasn't just some boy anymore. He was her friend.

Glancing up at her he said, "Yeah, that sounds cool."

Mickey relaxed against the bed they were leaning on. "Cool," she repeated.

"This weekend might be fun," he said as he handed another block to E.

"This weekend?" Mickey asked with a gulp.

"They're doing a Hitchcock double feature in town. _Psycho_ and _Notorious_ are playing. You want to go?"

"Sounds great," she smiled.

E threw a block down just then and looked up Mickey who leaned down and said, "Yes, cookie, what is it?"

"A-ma-ma!" E shrieked before turning away and grabbing for another block.

"Ha!" Mickey shouted triumphantly. "You see? She said it! She said 'ma-ma'!"

Owen shook his head with a smile and replied, "'A-ma-ma' isn't 'ma-ma'."

"It's close!" Mickey laughed.

"Mmm-hmm," was the unconvinced reply.


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I do not own anyone who you might recognize. Mickey and Elizabeth are owned by Lindsay. Owen is owned by me.

A/N: Thanks to Sarah for being such a great beta-reader. And thank you, Lindsay, for coming up with the whole idea and then brow-beating me into writing it. Good call by you.

xoxoxo

After Mickey received the good news about her G.E.D. everything seemed to change for the better – even the weather got nicer. It was March, sure, but in the quiet stillness of an evening, Mickey could feel that the temperatures weren't as low as they might have been. Snow came and went but more often than not it went. Slowly, over the next couple of weeks, Connecticut melted and by April all that remained was a verdant green landscape that seemed to capture everyone's imagination. Spring was a time of possibilities and the entire town seemed to feel it.

Kirk stood up at the April town meeting and grandly proposed to Lulu. It would have been the most romantic thing Mickey had ever seen but Kirk tripped as he tried to kneel before his ladylove and ended up sprawled on his stomach across the floor. With E on her lap and Owen beside her, Mickey felt the laughter bubble up in all of them. Only E let loose with it. Mickey noted that Lorelai held her own laughter in admirably, but Luke, who'd been sitting beside her, seemed to always be sitting beside her, quietly smiled in a rather broad and satisfied way.

Lulu said yes, of course, and that was the end of the meeting that night. The wedding was set for late summer and it would be held in the gazebo, like most town weddings and events.

That Spring Mickey continued to see Owen differently. He suddenly made her heart flutter painfully whenever they spoke. Her arms broke out in goose bumps and her spine shivered. It was almost difficult to be in the same room with him, except that not being in the same room with him made life seem a little dull and gray around the edges. This was entirely unlike the feeling she'd had when she'd first noticed E's father, someone she hadn't thought about in ages.

On the night of Kirk's engagement, Mickey lay on her side in bed and gazed at her sleeping daughter. E had graduated from the bassinette to a real crib not long ago and she'd taken to it like mad, although she continued to demand the pukey plaid shirt that had never been returned to Luke. It had become her woobie. The room was still except for the soft breathing of the infant and it was dark but for the small night-light plugged into a wall socket. Their room was tiny to begin with so a bed and a crib made Mickey feel slightly claustrophobic, but she knew it wouldn't be long before the baby was a toddler and then a little kid, needing her own room. Mickey's heart was gripped by something suddenly.

Almost a year ago she'd given birth to E and she'd seriously believed that her life was over. How wrong she'd been. How much she adored her child – this beautiful little creature with hair that had turned from blonde to dark red hair and eyes the same coffee color as hers. Watching something that's come from you grow and explore and learn was just too much some days. It was better than being in love.

This made Mickey think of Owen. Did she love him? She couldn't take her eyes off him whenever he was near. She couldn't get enough of the smell of him, even though she'd investigated his shower things and couldn't find anything that would account for his godlike scent.

On the other hand, what on earth could he want with her? Mickey thought back to the night of their "date", the movies they'd seen the weekend after she'd gotten the G.E.D. letter. They'd seen "Psycho" and "Notorious" and though they were alone for the first time in…maybe ever, nothing had happened. She'd tried to insist on paying for the tickets, but Owen wouldn't hear of it. She'd tried to pay for popcorn and drinks, but again, he wouldn't allow it. They'd found seats in the relatively empty theater/bookstore and watched the movies. That's it.

If she affected him the way that he affected her, he was damn good at hiding it. Face it, Mickey thought to herself now. He's just not that into you. She nodded in the darkness, trying to accept this as fact. Okay, so what now? she demanded with some hostility. _Now_, she answered herself, you get over it. Get over _him_. Plenty of other fish in the sea.

Mickey rolled her eyes and flopped onto her back, hoping sleep would come soon. Sunday was her day off so she didn't have to get up at the crack of dawn tomorrow morning, but she knew that E would be up at the same seven am whether _she_ had to be awake or not.

Sure enough, when E called to her mother at seven the next morning, Mickey groaned. "Not yet," she said pathetically. "Give mommy five more minutes. Please?"

"Maaa!" E called, standing herself up by holding onto the crib rails.

"Sleep!" Mickey answered.

"Maaa!" E shrieked louder.

"Ugh!" Mickey said. "Fine, fine, fine." She heaved herself off the bed and crossed the space to her daughter in one step. Lifting E from the crib, Mickey stepped back to her bed and settled herself and E under the covers. The change of scenery interested E for a while. Tendrils of Mickey's dark ginger hair had come loose from her braid during the night and E made grabs for them. Clutching the hair in her tiny fists and then pulling seemed to be a wonderful new game but it didn't allow Mickey to go back to sleep.

"Why do you torture me so?" Mickey asked E affectionately.

"Da-na," E replied.

The girls were interrupted by a soft knock on the door. Mickey, who was wearing just a t-shirt to sleep in, made sure she was under all the covers before she called, "Come in."

The door creaked open and both mother and daughter looked to see who was invading their early morning time together. Owen poked a sheepish head in the door. "I wasn't sure you'd be awake, but I heard E so I took a chance," he told her.

"Come on in," Mickey said as E tried to sit up and lift her arms to Owen at the same time. Owen closed the door behind him and walked over to E's side of the bed and gently sat down. Mickey moved back a little and pulled E to her so that Owen had some room. He was still in his pajamas too, she saw, loving the soft flannel bottoms and worn t-shirt. His dark blond hair was messy from sleep and his gray eyes seemed very gentle this morning.

Stretching out on the other side of E, Owen propped his head onto his elbow and said, "I've got something to tell you."

Mickey's heart flipped over in her chest and she thought there was a moment when she'd stopped breathing. Lifting her own head onto one hand, she said, "Yeah?"

"I'm going to be going back to school."

The sentence hung between them for a second before Mickey blinked and said, "Back to school?"

"Yeah. It's time."

"Are you going home?" Mickey asked, pulling back slightly and clutching E protectively.

"No, I've applied for pre-med at the University of Connecticut's School of Medicine and got in. But I'll be living on campus. I'll come back to visit, though, and I'll be here for the summers."

"Oh," Mickey replied, hoping she didn't sound as defensive and hurt as she felt. E was looking warily from one grown up to the other.

"I just didn't want you to hear about it from someone before I told you. We're friends, right? I thought you'd be happy for me." His tone was slightly accusing, but Mickey didn't care. All she could think was that they were being abandoned. Again.

"When do you leave?"

"I start Fall Semester, so I'll be here through the summer."

"Where is the University of Connecticut's School of Medicine?" Mickey felt as if she were choking on each word.

"Farmington. It's about half-way between here and Hartford."

"So you could commute if you wanted," she offered helpfully.

"If I had a car, which I don't and can't afford."

Mickey nodded, understanding. "Congratulations," she finally said in a stiff voice. "I'm happy for you."

"You should be," he told her. "Watching you work so hard for just a high school diploma is what inspired me."

Mickey nodded again, hating the G.E.D. It was what had brought them closer and now it was going to make him leave.

That afternoon, Mickey wheeled E over to Luke's for lunch. Lane was manning the counter while Luke pointed an empty table out to Mickey. She headed in that direction and as she unbuttoned her jacket, Luke appeared with something she'd never seen before.

"What is that?"

"It's a high chair," he said dismissively.

"I can see that, but what is it doing here?"

"I…I bought it," Luke told her in a hushed tone. "For the kid." He gestured to E who was still strapped into her stroller.

Mickey knew Luke had never felt entirely comfortable with children and she also knew what things like this cost. This act of kindness on top of the news that Owen would be leaving soon was simply too much and Mickey hung her head as the tears began to dribble down her cheeks.

"Whoa," Luke said. "Stop it right now, or I'm takin' it back."

With a short laugh, Mickey sniffed twice and wiped her face before looking up at him. "Okay," she said. "I'm done."

"Good, I'll be back to get your order," he said as he walked away.

Mickey undid the stroller straps, took off E's blue jacket and matching hat and mittens, and then lifted her into the high chair. Once settled, Mickey extracted from the back pouch of the stroller a few toys to keep E occupied while she looked at the menu. As promised, a few minutes later, Luke returned with an order pad.

"Well?" he asked.

"I'm going to have the Chef's Salad with the house dressing and water. E will have a peanut butter and jelly on white, no crusts, please."

"Got it," he said, "Chef with the house and a p.b. an' j. Comin' up."

Luke left them again to put in the order and Mickey pulled a book out of her bag. Rory had been very generous with her library and ever since reading had become something that wasn't mandatory, Mickey found that she actually liked it. As she opened the borrowed copy of _The Count of Monte Cristo_, Mickey kept one eye on E as she played with her toys.

Luke returned after a few minutes with their food and Mickey saw that without asking, he'd cut the sandwich up into little bite-sized pieces for E. "Thanks," she told him warmly.

He nodded quickly and stood back as Mickey handed one of the small pieces to E. The baby examined it, pulled it apart, licked the peanut butter, then the jelly, made a face, squealed, and then stuffed both pieces into her face, getting more on her cheeks than in her mouth. Mickey smiled and waited for the chewing and swallowing to stop before handing her another piece.

As Luke saw that this was a little ritual, he sat down beside Mickey at the table to watch. The kid was something else that was for sure. "She sure does grow like a weed, huh?"

Mickey smiled and nodded. "I know. It's hard to believe that she's ten months old."

Luke watched Mickey feed her daughter as the salad she'd ordered sat untouched. "Here," he said. "Let me feed her so you can eat, too."

"That's okay, I don't mind."

"But you must be hungry, too, right? Lorelai's right, you need to put on some weight and you're too pale." Luke commandeered the half-eaten sandwich from Mickey. "Eat," he ordered as he handed the next piece of peanut butter and jelly to E.

Mickey smiled at him and dumped her dressing onto the salad. Luke's food was always good and she ate until she was stuffed. As she watched Luke feed E, she was reminded that Owen would be leaving and her face fell a little. E stuck her tongue out at Luke and he seemed to get a kick out of it. He turned to Mickey and caught her expression. "What's the matter?" he asked, immediately concerned.

"Nothing," she said.

"Come on, out with it."

"Really, it's not that big a deal."

"Spill," he demanded.

"Well," she began. "Did you hear that Owen is leaving?"

"No, is he?" Luke asked, unconcerned. "Where's he going?"

"Back to college, but here in Connecticut."

"Good for him," Luke said, turning back to E.

"Yeah," Mickey echoed quietly. "Good for him."

Luke heard the tone of her voice and slowly turned back to Mickey. Catching her eyes, he stared at her for a beat and she blushed. "It's ridiculous, I know. He was just so nice to me and he's great with E and I'm going to miss him," she finished lamely.

"I'm sure he'll be back."

"He said that too. He said he'd visit on weekends, but once he's there he'll get busy, you know. Med school is time consuming."

Luke glanced away and thought about this. Before he could say anything, she continued. "Besides, I sort of feel like I'm not allowed to miss him."

"Why?"

"Because," she said, self-consciously, "look what happened last time I liked a boy. I'm not a very good decision maker when it comes to things like this."

"Maybe you weren't way back then, but I'm sure you've learned a thing or two."

"Maybe," she said. "Anyway. He's leaving and that's it. We'll be fine."

"Have _you_ given any thought to college?" Luke had been meaning to ask ever since the good news of the G.E.D. had reached him.

"Me? God, no. How would I pay for it? How would I get there? Who would take care of E? There's homework and reading and what would I even major in?"

The list of questions she had told him that she'd been thinking about it, too. "There are always loans available to students," he began. "And you could take the bus or another form of public transit. I think we would all pitch in to help with E. And as for homework, you'd just do it. The major would be your choice, but I always thought you'd go to culinary school. Like Sookie."

Mickey was taken aback by his reply. Luke seemed so sure that this was possible, could it be that she was missing something? He made it sound so easy.

"Culinary school," Mickey repeated seriously. "I'll think about it."


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: I do not own anyone who you might recognize. Mickey and Elizabeth are owned by Lindsay. Owen is owned by me.

A/N: Thanks to Sarah for being such a great beta-reader. She was right on about this chappie and we should all be sending her major props for not letting me post what I originally had. And thank you, Lindsay, for coming up with the whole idea and then brow-beating me into writing it. Good call by you.

xoxoxo

Mickey peered around the doorframe into Lorelai's office where the older woman was absorbed in her work. Mickey hated to interrupt as she watched Lorelai furiously going through paperwork, signing checks, and finishing orders to be faxed in the morning. Dinner was long over, the kitchen cleaned and the guests gone to bed or home and Lorelai was clearly burning the midnight oil. It was now or never, though, and Mickey knocked gently on the open door.

Glancing up quickly, Lorelai said, "What's up, Mick?"

"Are you busy?" Mickey inquired, holding a sheet of paper to herself.

"Sort of, but I need to be wrapping up soon, anyway. What can I do for you?"

Mickey crept into the office and wondered why she felt to apprehensive. Luke had told her that she could do anything she wanted. Why didn't she believe him?

"Well," she began nervously. "I need a letter of recommendation."

Lorelai's eyes widened fractionally. "A letter of recommendation? What for?"

"I…well, I want to attend this culinary school and they require a ton of stuff to get in, one being a letter of recommendation"

"Culinary school?" Lorelai asked with a slow smile spreading across her face.

"Yes. It would be a night-time thing," Mickey rushed to assure her. "I'd work my normal hours and take the bus to Farmington one or two nights a week. That's where the school is. Farmington."

"I'll get right on it. When is it due? And what gave you the idea?"

Mickey answered the first question and then replied, "Luke and I were talking one day about Owen leaving and he told me that Owen wasn't the only one who could go to college." Mickey blushed a little at the thought of him, or anyone, believing so much in her.

"I think this is a wonderful plan. Sookie will be thrilled. Have you told her yet?"

"No," Mickey replied with a quick shake of her head. Her burnished red hair was bound up in a complicated knot on top of her head that looked like it would come apart with another headshake. Unlike most redheads, Mickey's skin was free of freckles and really quite beautiful. Lorelai took the opportunity and studied the younger woman for a moment and noticed that she was starting to come into her looks. She walked with her shoulders back and her chin up, not all hunched over like when she'd first arrived in Stars Hollow. While Lorelai studied her, Mickey continued, "If I don't get in, then I'll have to explain to everyone why. Only you and Luke know."

"Oh?"

Mickey nodded. "We were talking about Owen going away and he asked me what my plans were. I didn't really have any and he mentioned culinary school. I had never really seriously considered it, but I started researching them and it's really cool. They teach you cooking but also the business end of things so that I could open my own bakery or restaurant some day."

"Fantastic!" Lorelai enthused.

"Did you know Luke bought a high chair for E? When she and I went in last week it was there and I could tell he didn't want to talk about it, but I was really touched. He didn't have to do that."

Lorelai was so taken aback for a moment that she simply couldn't speak. She'd seen the high chair pushed into the corner of the diner the last time she'd been in and she'd thought nothing of it. Luke had purchased it for E. "You're right," Lorelai answered in a soft voice, "he didn't."

"Anyway," Mickey said, "E is out with Sookie and Davey and I should go get her. Let me know when your done with the letter and I'll add it to the application packet. And thanks again."

"My pleasure," Lorelai responded with a warm smile.

When Mickey had taken her leave, Lorelai stood, crossed the room and shut the door. Then, she made her way back to her desk and picked up the phone. She wasn't sure what she would say when he answered but she needed to talk to him.

The ringing buzzed in her ear for a few minutes before the gruff, "Luke's" came across the line.

"It's me," she told him.

"We're closed," he grumped.

"Yeah, yeah, that's not why I'm calling. Listen, did you talk to Mickey about culinary school?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I don't know," Lorelai said after a pause. Her lungs felt tight and she recognized the feeling as one that she got when her heart felt full. "I just…I think it was really sweet of you."

"Yeah?" he asked noncommittally.

"Yeah."

"Well, don't get too excited," he said, wondering why she sounded so…strange. "I volunteered us for babysitting on the nights she has school."

"You did what?" Lorelai laughed.

"Volunteered us. She can't take the baby to school with her."

Lorelai thought about being alone with Luke. No, check that, alone with Luke and E. A shiver rushed down her spine and she said faintly, "True."

"Okay, then," he answered. "See you tomorrow?"

She smiled into the phone, wishing his voice didn't sound so appealing and…inviting. "Yup," she said softly before hanging up and shivering again.


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: I do not own anyone who you might recognize. Mickey and Elizabeth are owned by Lindsay. Owen is owned by me.

A/N: Thanks to Sarah for being such a great beta-reader. And thank you, Lindsay, for coming up with the whole idea and then brow-beating me into writing it. Good call by you.

xoxoxo

It was seven am on the morning of E's first birthday and Mickey and her daughter were snuggled under the covers of Mickey' bed. The sun had long ago risen, but mother and child were content to enjoy each other's company in the stillness of the quiet morning.

"Today you are one year old," Mickey told her daughter. E watched her mother carefully, with an expression of concentration on her face. "One year ago today you came out of mommy's tummy and screamed your head off. You were the angriest baby I had ever seen. Ugliest, too, I think. You were purple and slimy and I had no idea how I could _ever_ love you. But then they cleaned you off and brought you back. And that was it.

Mickey marveled at her. "You're getting to be such a big girl now. You're walking and your hair is growing into little curls and your curious and interested in the world around you." E squirmed, a little impatient with her mother's reverie and getting a little hungry, too.

"I know," Mickey told her with a small sigh. "It's time to get up."

Before Mickey could get out of bed, though, E tugged on her mother's t-shirt and said tentatively, "Mi-mi."

Looking closely at E, Mickey said, "Mom-my"

"Mi-mi," E repeated.

"Mom-my," Mickey said.

"Mi-mi!" E squealed.

Mickey laughed and got up.

xoxoxox

It was a beautiful June Sunday and Mickey's day off so they spent the morning playing in the grass near the gazebo. A party was planned for later on at Luke's and so when lunchtime approached, Mickey picked up E and headed across the street.

When she arrived, Mickey saw that Lorelai was already there, hanging streamers and tying balloons to chairs. When she spotted Mickey and E, Lorelai exclaimed, "Hey! Just in time. I have a pre-party present."

Lorelai held her arms out for E who went to her willingly. When Mickey's hands were free, she picked up the pink-wrapped box on one of the tables that Lorelai had indicated and said, "You didn't have to do this."

"Yes I did," Lorelai argued as she made faces at E who giggled uproariously.

With a quick shake of her head, Mickey opened the present and pulled out the most exquisitely made pink ruffled dress with matching underpants she'd ever seen. "This is too much," she said solemnly, feeling overwhelmed at her boss's generosity.

"No it's not," Lorelai answered reasonably. "What's the point of having a pretty dress if you don't have the ruffled underpants to go with it?"

Luke entered from the kitchen area in time to hear this last question and muttered, "Oh, God."

"Luke knows what I mean," Lorelai said with a grin. "You love the ruffled underpants I bought _you_, right?"

"Mickey," Luke began, "whatever she's talking about, make her stop."

Mickey gave him a mock salute and said, "Aye-aye." Then to Lorelai, she smiled, "Thanks. She's going to look adorable in this with her red hair."

"I know!" Lorelai squealed back as they set about changing E into the pink dress with matching ruffled underpants. By the time they were done, people were starting to arrive.

The party itself consisted mostly of what Mickey came to think of as a game called "Pass the Baby." E was passed from one person to the next for most of the day. The dress was a big hit and Lorelai loved the compliments she received for producing it.

E had no interest in presents so Mickey ended up unwrapping more pink clothing than she could handle. Everything was pink from socks to t-shirts to onesies to jeans to sneakers.

Owen arrived in time to see Luke light one candle on a huge round cake and Lorelai start the singing. After they'd finished the song and someone blew out the candle, Luke cut a good-sized piece and put it in front of E who was now sitting in the high chair. Someone zoomed in with a camcorder and everyone stared at E who had no idea that she was supposed to eat the cake. Everyone looked at E and she simply looked back.

Finally, Luke dropped three Cheerios into the frosting of her cake and that got E's attention. She went in like a dive-bomber after that and soon had two fists full of cake and frosting. This very quickly led to cheeks and eyelashes and hair that were smeared with the gooey stuff. Everyone clapped and ate and talked and had a good time.

After cake the party began to wind down. Mickey took E upstairs to Luke's apartment to clean her up and when she returned, the place was nearly empty. All the remained was Luke, Lorelai, Rory and Owen who were busy throwing away streamers and wrapping paper.

As Mickey came down the stairs she paused in the doorway with E and stared out at the diner. She felt truly blessed. To have people who cared this much about them was the biggest gift of all. Even as she thought this, she noticed Rory and Owen off to one side talking.

Rory was holding a garbage bag open for Owen who was gathering up the last of the paper. They were smiling at each other. Rory touched her hair and Mickey felt her stomach drop into her shoes. Owen said something that Mickey couldn't hear and Rory giggled adorably. Mickey suddenly wanted to beat Rory to death.

With a sinking sensation Mickey realized that she couldn't really blame Owen. Rory was beautiful, single, childless and in college. She was his equal and Mickey herself was decidedly not.

"Mi-mi," E suddenly said.

Mickey looked at the baby she held and said, "What, honey?"

"Du," E replied, pointing at Luke.

"Yes, baby, that's Luke."

"Du!" E shouted and all heads in the diner turned to where they stood.

"What's going on over there?" Lorelai asked with grin.

"She's practicing her words. She's trying for mommy and getting 'mi-mi' and I think she just tried to say 'Luke' but it came out 'Du'."

Lorelai giggled and said, "Luke! Did you hear that? You're E's second word!"

Luke flushed, which Lorelai thought was stunning. Rather than stare she turned away and looked again at E.

"Lorelai," she said gazing at E. "Can you say 'Lorelai'?"

E just looked at her as if trying to figure out why she suddenly had two heads. Finally, she grew impatient and cranky and Mickey had to take her back to the inn for a nap. As they walked she thought about what she had seen between Owen and Rory and again she came to the conclusion that she didn't blame him. And in a way it made his leaving a little easier.

The day was beautiful and as she walked Mickey felt E drop her head to her shoulder. It had been a long day for the baby and Mickey was fairly sure that she'd be asleep before they got back.

As she thought about Owen leaving, Mickey couldn't help but think about her own plans. She'd been accepted into the program at Connecticut Culinary Institute and she would be beginning in the fall, just before her eighteenth birthday. A little thrill danced in her chest as she thought about it.

She didn't need Owen. She had her own life, her own school, her own stuff. If he wanted to date Rory, that was fine. She didn't care. Much.


	15. Chapter 15

Disclaimer: I do not own anyone who you might recognize. Mickey and Elizabeth are owned by Lindsay. Owen is owned by me.

A/N: Thanks to Sarah for being such a great beta-reader. I'm actually posting this before she goes through it because she's a busy woman and hasn't had time to look it over yet. Once she has, I may update. And thank you, Lindsay, for coming up with the whole idea and then brow-beating me into writing it. Good call by you.

xoxoxo

The summer passed quickly. The inn was booked solid for the first extended period of its existence and in conjunction with that Sookie gave birth to a little girl who was named Madeline. With the extra business and the loss of one member of the team, if only for a short while, everyone worked harder. It was difficult for Mickey to plop her now-active toddler in a playpen during working hours but there was nothing she could do about it. She couldn't afford day care and imposing on someone to care for E without payment was out of the question. She still had her pride, after all. As a result, though, guilt crept into her heart and made itself at home. Was she doing the right thing with school? she asked herself late at night when the inn was asleep and E breathed quietly just a few feet away. Bettering herself was great but it meant more time away from her daughter and in a situation where people _would_ be looking after her for free. Could she really justify the money she would be paying for school? She wasn't sure.

The Fourth of July came and with it the town fireworks display. Taylor was like a despot when it came to town events whether he was Town Selectman or not. He ran the proceedings and Mickey and E watched from a blanket with Sookie, Jackson, Davey and little Madeline. During the course of that night Mickey caught a glimpse of Luke and Lorelai talking off to one side. It was dark but the lights from the sky illuminated them every once in a while and Mickey smiled. They seemed to be getting closer and closer.

Allowing her eyes to drift away from them, they soon settled on a very different couple altogether. Owen and Rory were sitting on a blanket with Lane and Zach, seemingly absorbed with one another. They weren't paying any attention to the sky in fact. Bitterly, Mickey's lips thinned and she looked away feeling left out.

A few weeks later, July was a distant memory and August was upon them. Halfway through the month Rory packed up and went back to Yale for her third year. Apparently she and Paris would be getting an apartment off campus this time around and she wanted to get everything set up for them. A week later Owen packed up, said his goodbyes, and had Jackson drive him to Farmington to start med school. He said he'd be back on most weekends but Mickey was skeptical. Farmington was as far as Yale was and they rarely saw Rory much on the weekends, just special occasions like birthdays and holidays.

Finally, her day came, too. The classes she'd chosen were held on Tuesdays and Thursdays, one at seven and the other at eight, so she kissed E good-bye and with strange things fluttering around in her stomach, caught the six o'clock bus to start her very first day…well, night…of college.

Meanwhile, back at the Dragonfly, Lorelai grabbed E and the bag Mickey had prepared for the baby and headed home. Luke was supposed to be meeting her there. The brand-new car seat/carrier snapped into the back seat of the jeep and Lorelai listened to E babble as they pulled into her driveway. Lugging the carrier, the diaper bag, her own briefcase and purse into the house was a bit of a nightmare but she managed.

Once inside she dropped everything but the carrier and headed upstairs. She needed to change into play clothes. Setting the baby still in the carrier on the bed, Lorelai took off her suit coat and hear the front door slam. "We're upstairs!" she yelled, knowing it was Luke.

"Okay!" he called back and started up, thinking she was asking him to join her and E.

Lorelai unbuttoned her navy blouse and tossed it on a chair. As it landed she heard from behind her a very masculine voice say, "Oh, no." Spinning around in just her dress slacks and a black bra she came face-to-face with Luke who was trying not to stare. "What are you," she began in a horrified tone.

"I thought," he began, "when you said…that you wanted…I mean, I don't…. I'm sorry," he finished gazing at the ceiling. "I'll be downstairs," he stated before turning and all but running back down to the first floor.

Lorelai was still in shock. My underwear. He's seen me in my underwear. Good underwear, too, not that it mattered. Jesus. Turning to E she said, "Not at all embarrassing, huh? Christ."

Wearily Lorelai finished changing into jeans and cotton top, then pulled her hair into a ponytail and brought the carrier downstairs. Luke was sitting on the couch, sitting up as straight as possible with his hands folded neatly in his lap.

"Did you bring food?" she asked, trying to break the tension.

"It's in the kitchen," he told her staring at the wall.

"Great. Will you take her and I'll go get it?"

"Uh-huh," he said standing up.

Lorelai left the room for the kitchen and Luke went over to where E was still strapped in the carrier. Undoing the clips and straps, he lifted her out carefully and brought her over to the couch where they sat on the floor. Grabbing the bag still by the front door he opened it and pulled out the toys he knew she liked. Together, they talked nonsense and played while Lorelai did her thing in the kitchen.

Finally steeling herself, Lorelai put the food on plates and headed for the living room. What she saw made her heart melt into a little puddle at her feet. Luke was sitting on the floor with his back against the couch and his legs spread. E was sitting between them and they were both bent over pile of blocks that was quickly taking shape. He was wearing his traditional jeans, plaid and boots while E was finally dressed like a girl. She wore jeans, too, but they were paired with a pale pink cotton shirt with a green frog on the front. Her hair was getting long enough now that Mickey had started putting little clips in it and the pink, combined with the red hair and pale complexion was simply adorable. Luke, she admitted to herself a teensy bit grudgingly, was also adorable.

Giving herself a mental shake, Lorelai said, "Dinner's ready," as she strode into the room.

Luke and E looked up and E's face broke into a wide, toothy smile. "La-la!" she called.

"Yes, Lorelai is back," she replied as she settled down nearby. Luke had brought a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for E with no crusts and cut up in little bite sized pieces. Lorelai handed a bib to Luke who fastened it onto the baby without speaking. Smiling shyly at him, Lorelai handed a piece of the sandwich to E who pulled it apart and offered the jelly side to Luke saying, "Du?"

"No, it's yours," he said looking down at her. "You eat it."

She looked back down at the sandwich and stuffed it into her mouth, getting half of it on her face. "You know what?" Lorelai asked him, forcing his eyes to meet hers.

"What?" he asked, his voice a little rusty.

"You're nothing but a big old softy who loves jam-hands."

Luke blushed and Lorelai watched the heat creep up his face and neck. "Can we keep it our little secret?" he asked, wishing she'd stop staring at him. He already felt embarrassed enough after walking in on her.

"Deal," she replied, handing another bite of sandwich to E and smiling just a little at the wonder of it all. Here was a man who had been her friend all of her adult life and now, all of a sudden, she wondered why it hadn't upset her more that he'd caught her in her underwear. After the initial surprise she had to admit that she'd taken pleasure in the fleeting look of appreciation that had crossed his face before mortification had settled in.

He had appreciated the view. _Her_ view. It was a very interesting thing, indeed.


	16. Chapter 16

Disclaimer: I do not own anyone who you might recognize. Mickey and Elizabeth are owned by Lindsay. Owen is owned by me.

A/N: Thanks to Sarah for being such a great beta-reader. I'm posting this chapter before she goes through it because she's a busy woman. If she looks at it at some point, I may update. And thank you, Lindsay, for coming up with the whole idea and then browbeating me into writing it. Good call by you.

xoxoxo

E's cheeks were ruddy so that they stood out in two bright pink spots on her otherwise pale face and her long dark lashes fanned out from large closed eyes, now peaceful in sleep. Some redheads end up with the wispy blonde unnatural looking eyelashes, but not her girl. Mickey examined her daughter in the dark of the tiny bedroom; the only illumination came from a little lamp spilling soft orange light out from beside the bed.

The little face, though ruddy, was dirty, too. She should have given her a bath tonight before bed, Mickey reflected. Her first day of Kindergarten was tomorrow and Mickey wondered if E was nervous. If so, she hid it well.

The summer E had turned one Sookie gave birth to the beautiful Madeline. Although she was a full year younger than E, Madeline, with her silky golden hair and dark green eyes was E's closest friend. After spending the day with Madeline and Davey – playing fort, if Mickey recalled correctly – her daughter was sprawled on her futon with blankets strewn everywhere, fast asleep.

Mickey fingered the thin, worn fabric of the old flannel shirt that was tucked securely under E's arm and gave a tired smile. It was almost impossible to believe how quickly four years could pass. She would graduate next week with her degree as a Master Baker. It didn't quite seem real. Even more unreal was that she already had a job lined up.

When Fran of Westin's Bakery had died they lost their owner and their head baker. A distant relation had come forward and now owned Westins, but still resided in Seattle with no intention of returning. There was a General Manager, of course, who hired a baker but as it happened, Mickey's graduation coincided with the current baker's decision to open her own shop in New York City.

Mickey, with glowing recommendations from Sookie who had supervised her internships, and all the rest of her professors, had been offered the job. About two years ago she stopped wearing jeans and t-shirts exclusively and graduated to tailored slacks, fitted tops, and loafers. She found that looking the part was just as important as playing the part, and the part she wanted was successful entrepreneur. She thought now about Westins and an appraising look filled her eyes. She had an idea. She was a mere 21 years old but with sharp concentration, all her determination and strict budgeting she had a plan just might be the craziest and the most important thing she'd ever done.

On top of everything else, an apartment had become vacant in the building above Westin's and she and E had moved in last weekend. Four years of savings had allowed her to pay first and last month's rent along with a security deposit. It had left Mickey with a little extra, and things would be tight for a while.

The place was sparsely furnished and they each slept on a futon rather than an actual bed, but they had their own rooms, plus a kitchen and a living room, to boot!

Satisfied that E was sleeping soundly on the night before her first day of Kindergarten, Mickey headed back out into the little living room. They had found an old, worn gold-colored couch at Goodwill. Its springs were rusty but it was clean and cheap and they delivered it for an extra 20 bucks so Mickey was rather pleased with it, over all.

She noted as she sank into the stiff cushions that it smelled faintly of potato chips and she made a mental note to pick up some Febreeze tomorrow. Two boxes filled with E's old baby toys served as a coffee table and she propped her feet up on them now. Sookie and Jackson were getting a new TV and she had been promised the one they had now. It had been over 4 years since she'd owned a TV. It seemed like a million years.

The living room was drab and bare but Mickey had learned a few tricks from Lorelai over the years and she knew that within a month their new home would be great. The carpet would be the first thing to go, she decided. Someone long ago had been silly enough to lay the floor with an awful olive green shag carpet. Mickey decided that on her next day off she'd rip it up and see if there was any way to salvage what was beneath it. Hopefully it would be hardwood panels and if she were lucky, they wouldn't be ruined with the glue holding the carpet. If the gods were smiling on her, all she would need is a mop and some Murphy's Oil Soap.

Tomorrow was a big day. Her baby would be starting school and Mickey's heart twisted sharply so that she gave a quick intake of breath. She wanted for her daughter everything that she hadn't had. Mickey had been awkward and shy at school and had had few friends. She'd been teased and picked on some and she hated to think that her own baby might have to contend with the evils of other children.

Without meaning to, her thoughts turned to Rory. Rory had graduated from Yale three years ago with honors and had worked for a while at Hartford's newspaper. From what Mickey heard and saw she and Owen were still seeing each other off and on. He was submerged in medical school and while he, too, had graduated at the end of last spring, he was starting his residency and had little time for dating. When Rory had been offered a job at the New York Times she'd leaped at the chance and had accepted before even discussing it with Owen.

She remembered hearing Owen and Jackson talking one night when she'd come by for E.

"I just can't believe she's moving to New York and she didn't even talk to me about it."

"Rory is a very strong-willed woman," Jackson had wisely noted, not wanting to take sides. "Look, if it's meant to be, then it will be."

While she'd handed E into her little coat, Mickey had seen Owen nod, and then he'd looked up and seen her. Their eyes had met and she'd felt herself falling into those sweet silvery depths. They were the color of the ocean and she hated how they made her feel. She needed to be practical not romantic.

Shaking herself now, Mickey let out an impatient sigh. Why couldn't she get over him? Or rather, why couldn't _he_ get over _Rory_? Even after she'd moved to New York they still managed to keep their interest in each other. It wasn't exclusive but they were both so busy that they offered the other a convenient person to hang out with when they had time to actually hang out.

To be fair, Mickey had tried to get over him. In the past four years, Mickey had gone out on several dates. Always keeping the men separated from E's life, she had tried to become interested in someone other than her old friend. It was no use, though. The guys were all nice, but invariably, for one reason or another, they didn't last long. Because of her age, the men she saw were either on their way to college, in college, on their way to graduate school, or just starting their careers. The last thing many of them wanted was a girlfriend who already had a kid. They wanted to have fun and Mickey wasn't fun. She was hard work and resolve and a scarcity of funds that was decidedly the opposite of sexy.

It didn't really bother her. She had friends and she had no interest in sex, something they would have found out eventually and then they would have been gone just as fast. Mickey had to admit that she was fairly satisfied with her life. She used to worry herself sick over E not having a man around but Luke had made good on his promise to baby-sit and he, along with Lorelai sometimes, spent a great deal of time with the little girl.

Mickey suspected that there was a certain amount of hero-worship going on in their relationship. Just today E had boasted to her mother, "Jackson took us to Luke's for lunch and he gave me a hot chocolate so I could be like Lorelai with her coffee and he gave me _extra_ whipped cream on top. Nobody else got extra and when I grow up I want to work at the diner, okay, Mommy? Because then I can get to see Luke all the time." E had delivered this speech with methodical resolution while they ate hot dogs and brown beans for dinner at their little kitchen table. Mickey had smiled and nodded. "You can be anything you want when you grow up."

E had ducked her head and then tilted it upward with her eyes closed and gave her mother a close-mouthed smile. Mickey had laughed and said, "Finish your beans, please, Miss Diner-worker." Her daughter had giggled and then cleaned her plate.

Life was definitely good, Mickey thought. But things would be changing soon. E started Kindergarten tomorrow. Mickey began her new job next week and, if she had heard the gossip correctly, Rory Gilmore was moving to Europe.


	17. Chapter 17

Disclaimer: I do not own anyone who you might recognize. Mickey and Elizabeth are owned by Lindsay. Owen is owned by me.

A/N: Thanks to Sarah for being such a great beta-reader. And thank you, Lindsay, for coming up with the whole idea and then browbeating me into writing it. Good call by you.

For those of you concerned about pairings, please try to be patient, L/L will happen and M/O will happen. I just wanted M to grow up a little bit first and they both needed some school. Trust me, though, I've got big plans for 'em.

xoxoxo

"What? You're moving _what_?"

"I don't think that's actually a sentence," Rory cajoled as she fiddled with her silverware, wishing the food would arrive. She looked up at Lane who stood at the counter and tried to catch her friend's eye.

"Don't change the subject," chided Lorelai, trying to remain calm. "Are you telling me that the rumors are true? You're moving to _Europe_?"

Rory tried the puppy-dog eyes but her mother wouldn't budge. The hard blue stare seemed to cut right through her and she felt her shoulders sag.

"I know I should have told you first but I was worried you'd…"

"Act like this?" Lorelai's voice shot up a notch. "So how many people knew before I did? Please don't say Grandma and Grandpa."

Rory shrank a little in her chair and gave her mother a look of guilty pleading. "I'm sorry. I got off the phone after accepting the job and a second later Grandma called."

Lorelai sat back in her chair. "Wow."

"It's not the end of the world, it's not even for the next ten years." Lorelai rolled her eyes, unmoved so Rory continued. "It's the BBC! How could I say no to the BBC?"

"By saying, '_no_'," Lorelai replied a little frostily.

"Please don't be mad. Think of the visits! You'll have to come and see me and remember how much fun we had in London?"

Lorelai shrugged, not wanting to feel better. Before she could speak, Luke arrived with their plates of food and nodded at Rory. "Congratulations," he said before offering Lorelai a shy smile and departing again.

"Luke knows," Lorelai said matter-of-factly, feeling secretly swoony over the smile. "Luke knew before I knew."

"It's possible that he found out in the last few seconds," Rory said lamely before taking a bite of burger.

They ate in silence for a few minutes and then Rory said quietly, "Don't be mad. The _Times_ is great but the BBC…I just couldn't…." she trailed off unable to put into words the excited at being asked to join one of the premiere news agencies in the world.

Lorelai softened. "I'm not mad," she finally said with a lift of her shoulders. "I'm just…going to miss you."

"I'm going to miss you, too."

Mother and daughter looked at each other and felt the years slipping away. The bell jingled just then and they both turned to see Mickey come in dressed in a pair of black slacks and a light blue oxford neatly tucked in. Her shiny black loafers matched the stylish black belt cinched at her little waist and her unruly red curls were mostly tied back at the nape of her neck. She waved at them and headed to the counter for coffee.

"How time flies," Rory murmured as they continued to watch.

Lorelai nodded and smiled. "She's something else, all right." And then, as if the sight of Mickey had brought him to mind she said, "Does Owen know?"

Rory looked guilty again and took a bite of burger so that she wouldn't have to answer right away. Lorelai was back to the hard stare when Rory had finished chewing and Lorelai begun to drum her fingertips along the shiny table's rim.

"I'm telling him tonight."

Lorelai shook her head disapprovingly. "You two are the weirdest couple ever." Mickey arrived at their side just as the words hit the air and her steps faltered a little.

"Hey there," Mickey said.

"Hi, Mick," Rory said with a bright smile.

"How's it going?" asked Lorelai.

"Okay," Mickey said, clutching her to-go cup of coffee in one hand, the other fidgeting with a belt loop. "I took E to her first day of Kindergarten this morning and it's all I can do to keep from breaking down the door to take her back out. This is harder than I thought it'd be."

"She's having a great time," Lorelai assured her.

"Mom's right," Rory added.

"I know, I just can't stop worrying," Mickey said with a flush that inched up her delicate white throat until her cheeks and then the tips of her ears were bright pink.

"You wanna join us?" asked Lorelai.

"I've got to get back to the inn," Mickey answered, "but thanks. See you later."

"I'll be there," Lorelai nodded.

They waved and watched Mickey leave.

"That was weird," Rory observed.

"What?"

"The way she kind of tripped when you said what you said about us being a weird couple."

"She didn't trip. Did she?"

Rory looked at her mother. "She tripped. And I just don't get it. Owen has always sworn that there was nothing there. They were never a couple, right?"

Lorelai nodded.

"Okay then," Rory said, feeling vindicated.

"Although…" Lorelai began.

"What?"

"They were awfully close for a while there. Before he left for med school. To hear her tell it, he got her through the G.E.D."

"But I asked him, point blank, if they were ever together and he said no."

Lorelai shrugged. "Are you going to try to keep dating once you're gone?"

Rory pursed her lips as if she hadn't decided yet and then allowed, "I don't know. I care about Owen a lot but…"

"Wait," Lorelai said. "You care about him? You've been dating for a while now and there's still no 'L' word?"

Rory blushed this time and shook her head. "It just never felt like the right time. Owen's great but…"

"That's the second 'but' in ten seconds," Lorelai declared. "I try to stay out of your love life, but this is crazy. Are you telling me you've been dating Owen for almost four years and you're not necessarily in love him?"

"It was convenient," Rory said defensively. "We like each other a lot and we're extremely compatible, we're goal oriented, and focused, we enjoy the same movies and music and food…."

Lorelai stared at Rory and for the second time said, "Wow."

Mickey walked slowly back to the inn taking deep sips of her coffee. She'd overheard what Lorelai had said about Rory and Owen being the weirdest couple. At least she'd gotten confirmation of the rumor, though. Rory was definitely moving to London. Lane had given her the news as she'd poured the coffee.

Her heart fluttered a little in her chest and she smiled, before taking another sip.


	18. Chapter 18

Disclaimer: I do not own anyone who you might recognize. Mickey and Elizabeth are owned by Lindsay. Owen is owned by me.

A/N: Thanks to Sarah for being such a great beta-reader. And thank you, Lindsay, for coming up with the whole idea and then browbeating me into writing it. Good call by you.

xoxoxo

Mickey looked at her watch for the tenth time in thirty minutes. She was standing over the sink at the Dragonfly, rinsing a colander of green beans, and noted with irritation that it was still only 4:30. She'd been up since four that morning baking at Westin's and her shift there ended at three, but she was still picking up hours at the Dragonfly during the dinner prep and rush. E's first day of Kindergarten was taking forever to end. As much as Mickey hated herself for it, she'd felt compelled to enroll her daughter in the after-school day care program. She consoled herself by thinking that additional socialization would be good for E, who'd spent most of her childhood so far playing with only Davey and Madeline.

Madeline was a trip. She refused to answer to Maddie; it was Madeline or nothing, ever since she'd been read the books.

With another short look at her watch, Mickey sucked in through her teeth while pursing her lips, itching to get away. As much as she loved her job at the inn, she desperately wanted to be with her daughter, to listen with rapt attention as she recounted all the things she'd learned, to find out if anyone had picked on her, to examine her little self and make sure nothing was broken or punctured or scraped or upset.

"Mick?" Sookie came up behind her like a cat and Mickey jumped.

"You _scared_ me!" she scolded and then immediately regretted it.

Sookie ignored her, though, and just commented kindly, "Didn't anyone ever tell you that a watched pot never boils?"

"Not true," Mickey replied quickly, not hearing Sookie's tone. "When you put heat under water, it _will_ boil."

Sookie caught Mickey's eye and lifted her eyebrows. Mickey looked miserable. "Oh," the younger woman said. "You mean…"

"Honey, why don't you take off, huh? Go get E, take her to Luke's for dinner and find out how her first day went?"

"Are you sure you don't need me? Absolutely, positively?" Where Mickey might once have refused a few times, tonight she was already untying her apron.

"I can't stand the sight of you right now," Sookie told her playfully, pushing her toward the door. "Now get out."

"Thank you!" Mickey said breathlessly, giving Sookie a quick hug before grabbing her purse and snatching at the doorknob.

It didn't take Mickey long to cross town on foot and stride purposefully up the walk of Stars Hollow Elementary. She paused just long enough to enjoy the delicious fall breeze as it tugged at her russet curls. The winter would be there before she knew it!

Inside, Mickey made her way to the gymnasium where the after-school program was held. She practically jogged inside before stopping short and scanning the crowd of children for her own red hair. Immediately she saw E with three other little girls playing Ring Around the Rosie. Her cheeks were flushed bright pink and her hair fell in tangled waves down to the small of her little back.

"Mommy!" she yelped when she saw Mickey.

"Hi!" Mickey said as she leaned down to meet her daughter, who was now running at her. They embraced long and hard. "How was your day?" Mickey whispered, hoping she wouldn't cry.

"Good," E said sounding muffled against Mickey's shoulder.

Mickey pulled back and looked E over carefully. Before she could ask any more questions, E said, "I'm hungry, can we eat at Luke's?"

With a wry smile Mickey said, "You always want to eat at Luke's. If I let you, you'd have three meals a day there."

"Puh-lease?" E pouted.

"All right," Mickey gave in. They collected E's new book bag and headed for Luke's.

"So tell me about your teacher," Mickey said, shouldering the bag and taking E's hand.

"Miss Bee is nice," E said. "She taught us the vowens today and told me that I shouldn't be called just a letter."

"She what?" Mickey asked.

"The vowens, Mommy. A, E, I, O, U, and sometimes Y. And she said I shouldn't be called just a letter. She told me to tell you."

Through gritted teeth, Mickey said, "I think you must mean vowels, now vowens and what am I supposed to call you if not E? It's what I've been calling you since you were born."

"Lorelai told me that you called me Cookie for a little while," E challenged.

"Cookie isn't a proper name."

"Neither is E."

They had reached Luke's door and Mickey pulled it open, letting the sound of bells wash over her. They never failed to remind her of that first time.

"So what am I supposed to call you?" Mickey asked as they found an empty table and sat down.

"Elizabeth," E replied with hilarious hauteur.

Mickey stared at the pale little face, dotted with freckles. She wasn't kidding.

"Ladies," Luke said, coming up to them. Mickey looked up and smiled.

"Hey," she said.

"Something to drink?"

"I'll have a water and Miss Elizabeth will have a milk."

E tilted her head to one side and rolled her eyes self-importantly. Luke tried to hide a smile as he left to get their drinks, and Mickey stared at her daughter.

"What else did you learn today?"

E shrugged.

Luke came back and E smiled and batted her eyelashes at him. "Luke," she began.

"Yeah," he asked, smiling gently down at her.

"Did you know that the 'U' and the 'E' in your name are _vowels_?"

"I had heard something about that, yes."

"Just checking."

Now it was Mickey's turn to roll her eyes. "Hey Luke," she said.

"Yes, ma'am," Luke replied, directing his attention to her.

"E says she needs a new nickname."

"Not this again."

"It's not me, her teacher told her."

Luke turned his gaze to E who sat calmly sipping her milk and staring at him with starry eyes. "Tell your teacher to stuff it."

With a giggle, E said, "Okay!"

"No!" Mickey fought to make her voice heard over E's laughing. "Thank you, Luke, but she cannot tell her teacher to 'stuff it.' "

Before the conversation could continue the bells on the door jingled again and Owen stepped inside. Mickey was immediately distracted. Her face went hot and she had to look away or be humiliated by her reaction, so she looked again at E who was waving him over.

Owen waved back and headed for them. They were conveniently seated at a four-top so he just pulled out one of the unused chairs and made himself at home. Hellos were exchanged.

Mickey tried to surreptitiously stare at him. He looked grown up. His shaggy blonde hair was gone, now cut close to his head. Mickey found that it changed the shape of his face somehow…or perhaps with all that hair Mickey had never looked closely at his face before…or maybe it had been too long since she'd been able to focus on his face for any length of time. She had no idea, but she did know that she couldn't keep mooning over him.

He was talking with E about school she was chattering away about some boy in her class whom she hated. Luke had gone away for a moment but would be returning to take their orders soon, so Mickey picked up a menu and looked it over, if only to distract herself.

When Luke returned Mickey ordered a salad, Owen ordered a burger and E announced that she was a vegetarian.

"A what?" Mickey repeated.

"A vegetarian, Mommy. It's when you don't eat meat."

"I know what one is, but I don't understand why you want to be one."

"Animals are our friends," E said loftily. "Right Luke?"

Mickey looked up at Luke helplessly. E was doing the same but her look was filled with worship. Mickey noticed and rolled her eyes again.

Luke grunted and flushed a little. "I may have let it slip that I'm a vegetarian," he told Mickey looking guilty.

"Thanks a lot," she said ruefully. E ordered a peanut butter sandwich and carrot sticks.

The conversation with Owen was a little stilted as they ate and after dinner Mickey could have killed E when she announced that she would be having dessert at the counter with Luke.

As she scampered away Mickey looked at her back longingly. "So," she finally said. "It's good to see you again."

"It's good to see you, too," he told her.

"How's school?" She knew he was four years in with four more years to go.

"Exhausting," he admitted. "But it'll be worth it in the end." He leaned forward and looked conspiratorially into her eyes. "I have a plan."

She never could resist those deep gray-blue eyes. "Yeah?" she asked a little too breathlessly for her liking.

"After med-school is over I'm going to set up a private practice here."

"Here?" Mickey squeaked. But Rory was going to Europe.

"Yep," he confirmed. "Here."

"But Rory…" she stammered out before she could stop herself.

Owen looked sheepishly into his glass of water. "I know you must have heard the news," he chided her.

Mickey flushed again and nodded, but didn't say anything. She didn't trust herself.

Owen rubbed the top of his head thoughtfully, as if he were wondering what happened to all that hair, and said, "It was never meant to be with Rory. We got along great, and had the same interests but there was nothing moving us forward. No impetus to take the next step."

"Oh," Mickey said, considering this. The next step.

"What about you?" he asked, deftly changing the subject.

"I've got a plan, too," she admitted, fidgeting with her fingers.

He nodded encouragingly and so she began to speak. "I graduate next week from culinary school as a Master Baker. I've already got a job with Westin's to take over as their baker and E and I have a new apartment right above so I'll be close to work. Eventually I'd like to buy it, though. I'll have to run it for a few years, to prove to the banks that I can do it, but someday I'll own it and it'll be _mine_," she finished with a dreamy look on her face.

Owen couldn't help smiling at her and inside he felt something say, "You idiot!"

Mickey continued not noticing his expression. "We've got a little half mattress in the office of the bakery so that when I get there at four am, I can bring E with me and she can keep sleeping. Then, at seven-thirty I wake her up and she goes upstairs and gets ready for school and then by the time she comes back down someone is at the bakery and they can take care of the front counter while I walk her to school. It's a great little system."

Owen nodded again and again felt a little tug inside. Something he'd never felt before with Rory. Something he could vaguely remember from helping Mickey study for the G.E.D. all those years ago. Why had he been so stupid about med school? Why hadn't he made an effort to be _here_ more?

Mickey was still fidgeting with her fingers and Owen realized that he'd let the conversation lag. "That's great," he said a little too quickly. "It's amazing that a four year old can get themselves ready for school like that."

"Well, we practiced a lot and she understands the deal."

"The deal?"

"Yeah. Mommy's got to work so that we can eat and live and without a Daddy we sometimes have to do things we might not love, but the tradeoff is that we get to have a good time together just as girls. I don't know how long she'll buy that for," Mickey laughed, "but until she gets wise it's what we do."

They shared a laugh and Owen nodded at the counter where E was enthusiastically piling pie into her mouth. "You're doing a great job."

"Thanks."

"She sure does like Luke, huh?"

Mickey laughed again and considered telling Owen about her daughter's crush, then thought better of it. It would be a betrayal to tell anyone about it. Besides all anyone had to do was look at E to _know_ she was crushing.

For her part, E knew her mommy liked Owen and it was a-okay to leave them alone for a few minutes if it meant spending more time with Luke. The dinner rush had calmed down and E still had half a plate of chocolate cream pie in front of her. Luke stood over her hemming and hawing over the sugar but E was adamant: meat was one thing; pie was another.

To change the subject E said, "How's _Lorelai_?"

Luke blushed and said, "Shhhh!"

So far, E was the only one who knew about them. All those years of babysitting her had led to…_things_…Luke blushed again just thinking about them. And E was the one person in all of Stars Hollow who knew and therefore the one person who could blow their cover. He offered her a second slice of pie.


	19. Chapter 19

Disclaimer: I do not own anyone who you might recognize. Mickey and Elizabeth are owned by Lindsay. Owen is owned by me.

A/N: Thank you, Lindsay, for coming up with the whole idea and then browbeating me into writing it. Good call by you.

xoxoxo

Mickey sat back, rolled her tired shoulders, and examined her work. The swirls of butter cream frosting draped and scrolled up and down the four-tiered confection as if they were lazy hills of green fields. She gave a smile as she thought about how happy people would be as they bit into Luke and Lorelai's wedding cake.

Of course, Lorelai had some pretty specific requests. Each tier was filled with a different flavored jelly, the kind usually found in jelly donuts. The frosting itself was a marvelously pale ivory that perfectly matched the gown Lorelai would be wearing for the occasion the next day, Saturday.

Rory had flown in from London and Mickey was interested to see how that would be. Owen had been stopping by whenever he was in Stars Hollow, which oddly enough, seemed to be much more than when he and Rory were together. He was even coming to the wedding. Mickey had to keep herself from squeeing aloud over that. No one would have heard her if she had squeed. It was just passed six am and E was sound asleep on her little mattress in the office.

As someone had once suggested, Luke and Lorelai's wedding had become a town event, much to the chagrin of Luke and the delight of Lorelai. Their vows would be exchanged in the gazebo at high noon, followed by an afternoon of games, dancing, food and best of all an open bar.

Three months had passed since her graduation from culinary school and Mickey still felt sick thinking of all the people from Stars Hollow who had shown up to watch her receive her diploma. Never one to enjoy the spotlight, her nerves had been shot all day. Her plea to E to "distract them" had yielded the desired result, to the detriment of Luke and Lorelai's secret arrangement.

E had announced to the crowd at Luke's who had assembled to celebrate Mickey's graduation, "I saw Luke kissing Lorelai in the store room!"

As she had hoped, Mickey was relinquishing the spotlight faster than you could say, "Kissing!"

Cries of, "I knew it!" and "No way!" and "Get a picture!" soon died down as Luke and Lorelai finally confessed all. In fact, they admitted that yes, they were together, yes, all was well, and as a matter of fact, Luke had proposed marriage just that morning.

More cries of delight and surprise filled the diner and Mickey was able to enjoy her graduation cake in peace. During the commotion that followed, Owen caught her eye and gave her a knowing smile. The memory made her shiver.

Mentally, Mickey reviewed her outfit for tomorrow and tried to decide if heels or flats would be better. She'd found a pale blue dress made of gauzy material with capped sleeves and an empire waste at the thrift store and would be wearing her russet hair in loose curls for the occasion. Shoes were another problem. She'd found an old pair of strappy brown sandals with a spiked heal that would be perfect if only they were a better color.

She wondered how much silver spray paint cost. Leaning down to adjust one of the sugared flowers atop the second tier, Mickey thought that she should stop at the hardware store later on to check.

Frowning ever so slightly, Mickey paused to reflect on the one fly in her ointment, and reached into her apron pocket to finger the envelope hidden there. Never had she expected to hear from anyone from her old life and yet, here was proof that someone was looking for her. She didn't want to think about it, but eventually, the letter would have to be answered. Her mother had written because that asshat Tom Rollingford had called the house. Mickey couldn't even begin to guess where he'd found the number.

Apparently, he graduated college last spring and had been working for his daddy ever since. Mickey had no idea what his father did for a living, just that he was extremely successful at it. And now, all these years later, he was apparently interested in…what? She couldn't begin to guess. A relationship? Knowledge of his offspring? Getting in more digs like the last one he'd lobbed at her? "Sucks to be you," he'd told her upon learning of her pregnancy by him.

Mickey pushed the old hurt aside and tried to focus on the task at hand. If there was one thing she could be sure of, it was that he couldn't possibly take E away from her. She'd been so sad and angry over his rejection that he was not listed on the birth certificate.

Legally, he was no one.


	20. Chapter 20

Disclaimer: I do not own anyone who you might recognize. Mickey and Elizabeth are owned by Lindsay. Owen is owned by me.

A/N: Lindsay rules for thinking this whole thing up and then letting me muddle through it. Good call by you.

xoxoxo

"What do you know? You don't even _have_ a father!" cried the boy.

Elizabeth took a step back, surprised at how hateful his words were and the effect they had on her. She caught hold of Madeline's hand and squeezed tight. They were at the gazebo, the wedding ceremony long over, the reception in full swing. It had started innocently enough. The girls had been crouched down in the grass, careless of their special occasion dresses, collecting pebbles to put in their lacy little handbags.

When the boys approached, Madeline and Elizabeth stood up to see what they wanted. Because it was a town event, just about everyone showed up, if only to see the two most likely to die in denial actually get hitched. The three youngsters were bullies who'd begun to tease the girls for fun. Madeline had shouted that her father would catch them and make them sorry. When Elizabeth chimed in with a well-timed "Yeah!" she had thought they would shrink from the threat, but instead, this! This horrible truth flung at her like one of the little rocks weighing down her pink satin bag.

"I have _so_ got a father!" she yelled, her cheeks scarlet with rage.

"Oh, yeah? Where is he then?" called Tommy. "My mommy says your mommy isn't worth a darn," said the second boy, Aaron.

Madeline, as a second child and the only daughter in her family had always been cherished and as a result she wasn't very tough. She clutched Elizabeth's and started to cry. "Stop it," she wailed.

"I heard Taylor say you're a bastard!" the third boy, Nicholas, chimed in.

Elizabeth's mouth trembled as she tried to think of something to say. She didn't know what a bastard was, so she went with the obvious which was of course denial. "Am not!" she said hotly before tugging on Madeline's arm and running from the boys.

When Madeline saw her father in the crowd she broke away from Elizabeth and ran for him, leaving E to her own devices worried and confused. It was dusk and the party had been going for hours. She could see Luke and Lorelai dancing to the band, holding each other and looking very happy, but tonight it didn't make her happy, too.

She sagged into a chair on the outskirts of the action and crossed her arms, wishing her mother would find her. She wanted to go home. Elizabeth was as miserable as she had ever been in her short time on earth.

As she sat there, watching the people drink and eat and laugh and enjoy themselves, she grew more and more angry. Stewing, Elizabeth tried to figure out why her mother wasn't worth a darn, why she was a bastard and where her father was. Clearly it was an important question, but one she had never considered before.

Someone sat down in the chair beside her and she looked up to find Owen there. "Hiya," he said pleasantly. She saw that his blonde hair had been trimmed recently and he had a tan line where his sideburns had recently been.

Elizabeth's lower lip jutted out and she didn't say anything. She didn't think she trusted grownups at the moment. She wanted her mother.

"Whatsa matter?" he asked, clasping his fingers together, placing his elbows on his knees and leaning in to study her fixed expression. She seemed hell-bent on being crabby.

Elizabeth cast her eyes downward and studied her shoes. She'd been so pleased with them at the start of the day. Now they were smudged with grass stains and pinched her toes. She sniffled, allowing the wave of self-pity to wash over her. She could not have named the sensation, but she knew what to do with it.

"Did something happen?" Owen pressed. He'd watched her playing with Madeline earlier and they'd seemed fine, happy and entertained. He watched her face and saw it contract at his question. Like a leaf dropped onto a clear pool of water, her face had shimmered for a moment, the answer just barely visible, before settling once again into stoic misery.

"Come on, E-Train," he coaxed, using a nickname that was his and his alone. Mickey's desire for a stable and legitimate name had been the reason for naming her daughter "Elizabeth". If she had known that everyone would invent his or her own myriad pet names for her little E, she would have gone with something purposefully foolish like Britney or Tiffany or Amber.

"I want my mom," she told him, still not looking at him. It was the little nickname that had done it. It forced her to remember that he'd always been nice to her and she could trust him.

"Okay," he answered easily. Owen glanced around, but the failing light and crowd of people made it difficult. He let a small sigh drift out of his mouth and Elizabeth glanced up at him, suddenly angry with her mother. Whatever she had done to make herself not worth a darn, it didn't have anything to do with Elizabeth, herself. And it was probably her fault too that she didn't have a father. And now that she was feeling sad because boys had been mean _because_ of her mother, she wasn't even _here_ to make her feel better.

Owen studied the pale face beneath the torrent of freckles and tried to figure out what had happened. He didn't see Mickey anywhere although she had promised him a dance. From where they were sitting, he could make out the makeshift dance floor. Among the bodies he could make out one tall figure in a black suit. The man's back was facing him, and he seemed to be dancing with someone because he was swaying from side to side, but Owen couldn't see a matching pair of legs moving in time with the man's.

After a moment, the man began to turn in time to the music and Owen could see that it was Jackson he'd been watching. His dancing partner was Madeline, her legs hitched around his waist and hands resting on his shoulders. He hadn't noticed this before because he'd been focusing on Jackson's legs, looking for the second pair there.

He glanced down and saw that Elizabeth was watching them, too. Owen thought about asking her to dance as well, and would have when she defiantly crossed her arms over her chest and gave a "Humph!", except that she then looked him straight in the eye and said, "Dancing is dumb!"

Elizabeth waited for him to smirk. Grownups always laughed at you when they thought you were being silly. Sometimes they pretended they weren't, but she wasn't stupid: she'd become quite adept at finding the smirk. Owen was simply looking at her, though, wondering how to fix her heart, which was clearly hurting.

"I like dancing," he told her.

Elizabeth regarded him suspiciously, still looking for the hidden smile. The band wrapped up the song they'd been playing and started another slow number. "Come on, dance with me," Owen coaxed.

She looked again at the crowd on the green, dancing away under the gilded moonlight, and she softened as another wave of self-pity washed over her.

"Okay," she said, her tone suggesting that she was doing him a favor and he better remember this the next time he wanted something.

Elizabeth stood and held up her arms for him to pick her up, which he did. Like Madeline, she slung her skinny legs around his hips and wrapped her arms around his neck. He supported her bottom with his clasped hands and strode toward the crowd of dancers.

While they were walking she caught sight of the first boy, Tommy, who'd said she didn't have a father. Her eyes narrowed as they locked onto his. She stared at him until he turned away and then she turned back to look at Owen as they arrived at the crowd. Unlike the boy's face, which was dark and unreadable, Owen's face was open and clear.

Elizabeth, still too young to feel any reservation with someone she'd known since birth, lifted her left hand from his shoulder and placed it on his chin, which was scratchy with the stubble that had grown in since that morning.

Dropping her head to one side, as if preparing to closely concentrate on his answer, she said, "Do you have a dad?"

Owen's lips tightened almost imperceptibly, but he nodded slowly, allowing her hand to move up on and down with the movement of his chin.

"Where is he?"

"Back home. Where I'm from"

"And your mom?"

"She's there, too."

"They live together?" Her sharp eyes seemed to bore into his.

"Yep."

"Even when you were my age?"

"Even then. But, E," he said.

"Yeah?" The solemnity of her expression twisted something inside his chest.

Owen paused as he considered how to say what he had to say next. Finally, he gently gave her the piece of information that he'd been holding in his own heart for so many years. "He wasn't a nice man."

Elizabeth stroked his chin once and then put her hand back on his shoulder and settled into a more comfortable position in his arms as she waited for the story.

She was far too young to hear about all the things his father had said and done in his lifetime, much less his mother's, so he settled on, "He was never very nice to me or my mom, or my little brother."

"Why?"

Owen tried to think. Why had his father been so awful? "I don't know. I think he was probably very unhappy." She certainly didn't need to hear about the alcoholism, but it was the truth that unhappiness had seemed to saturate their little house.

Elizabeth continued to study him, not understanding someone who would complain about a dad when the dad was there all the time.

"You're very lucky because your mom loves you a lot," he said as they gently glided along on the music.

"Mommy isn't worth a darn," she said before she could stop herself. Her words were not passionately spoken, but matter-of-factly stated. She was simply repeating the words of Aaron's mother.

"Hey," Owen said sharply. "Your mom is one of the good ones."

Elizabeth shrugged, noncommittal. For her the party was ruined.

"My dad wasn't nice to me or my brother or my mom. Ever. He used to say terrible things to us. So don't think that you've got it tough just because your dad's not around. The parent you have is pretty wonderful if you ask me."

Elizabeth brought her hands down under her chin, snuggled into his chest and thought about this. Owen smelled nice, like the inside of the bakery, and she wondered if he'd been there recently.

"What did he say?"

Owen, who'd been trapped in a memory, spoke truthful words before he could check himself. "When I brought home bad grades or did something dumb he'd tell me how stupid I was. I never played sports and he was always telling me how I'd never amount to anything. He screamed at me when I forgot to mow the lawn. He screamed at my mother when she didn't have dinner on the table when he got home."

Elizabeth seemed to retract into herself for a moment before sharing with him, "Some boys were mean to Madeline and I. They said mommy wasn't worth a darn and that I didn't have a father and that I'm a bastard." It didn't occur to her that the last two were related.

Owen's hold tightened on her involuntarily and he swallowed the outburst that threatened to spew out.

"You have a father, everyone does. He simply doesn't live with you or your mom."

Elizabeth didn't understand much of this but she did get that it was a choice. Not knowing what question to ask next, she squinted up at Owen, trying to figure out the puzzle.

Owen stopped dancing so that he could look at her squarely, as if he were talking to an adult, before he said, "I wouldn't wish my father or someone like him on anyone. If your father is anything like my father, then it's good he's not around. Would you like to get yelled at all the time?"

With a shake of her head, Elizabeth continued to frown up at him, hoping he'd make everything clear soon.

"Maybe he was smart enough to know that he wouldn't make a good dad, so he just didn't even try." As he spoke, Owen recalled the hatred he'd felt for Elizabeth's father way back when he'd first gotten to know Mickey.

How sad and fragile she'd been during E's crying jags and how elated she'd been when she'd gotten her G.E.D. He'd wanted to physically harm him for making her do it all alone.

Now, though, he was starting to see it the way he was painting it for the child he held. The kid had been a senior in high school, for heaven's sake. It was probably a blessing in disguise that he wasn't around to mess up their little life together. Especially now, a little voice whispered in the back of his head. He tried to brush it away but just then he saw Mickey herself cross the dance floor in her blue dress, looking for all the world like a Greek goddess. Miss Patty could have told him that it was the empire waste, but all Owen knew was that she was a vision in pale blue fabric that clung to her body in layers and folds that made him jealous.

She moved with the grace of a young horse, all leg and bone with a long stride and glossy curls. He held his breath and watched.

With the wide smile she reserved for her daughter alone, Mickey arrived at where they stood and made a welcome intrusion by asking, "May I join you?"

Elizabeth smiled the same smile back and leaned up for a kiss from her mother. Mickey dropped a kiss onto the corner of her baby's mouth and tried not to feel the swirl of her stomach as she caught a whiff of Owen. She smiled up at him as Elizabeth straightened in his arms and said, "Dance with us, Mommy."

Shyly, using the smile she reserved for strangers, Mickey shifted her eyes away from his and slid her hands up his arms so that Elizabeth was between them, held up by Owen, with Mickey pressed against E's back, her hands atop his shoulders.

Under her lids, Mickey studied his face and saw that it was more deeply lined that at first glance. With careful consideration, she followed the planes and curves of skin as it gracefully turned from nose to cheekbone, from cheek to jaw, and from jaw to chin. She found herself desperate to touch it and she would have been shocked and, God help her, jealous to discover that her daughter had been doing just that until very recently.

His hands pressed into her pelvis from beneath her daughter's bottom and she held his shoulders tighter. If asked she would have said that she didn't want E to fall. In her heart, though, in the deepest part of herself, she knew differently.


	21. Chapter 21

Disclaimer: I do not own anyone who you might recognize. Mickey and Elizabeth are owned by Lindsay. Owen is owned by me.

A/N: Lindsay rules for thinking this story up and then making me muddle through it. Good call by you. We're at the end of the line, though. Last Chapter is below.

xoxoxo

At the end of the evening, Owen walked Mickey and Elizabeth home. The moon-washed streets offered a silent invitation and Mickey tucked a hand into his crooked arm. He carried a now-sleeping E and Mickey herself felt sleepy and warm and oddly safe. What was it about this man that made her feel so at-ease with the world? She could not have said.

Upstairs, in the apartment above the bakery, Mickey led Owen to E's room and he gently nestled her under the blankets, like a baby bird returned to the nest. When he stood back, Mickey leaned over her daughter and removed her fancy dress, tights and shoes, letting her sleep in her underpants and undershirt. When she was done, she turned off the light, took Owen by the hand and closed the door behind them.

As Mickey led him through the hall and toward their small living room she felt her heart tap dancing frantically behind her ribs. She'd left a single lamp burning and it offered a pale pool of soft yellow light. He allowed her to bring him to stand with her in the middle of the small room and they faced each other, nervously aware of their relative aloneness.

Mickey shivered and Owen took this to mean that she was cold so he dropped her hand from his and began rubbing her arms from wrist to shoulder, stopping just short of the blue capped sleeves. Mickey's eyes went wide and her entire body seemed to quake from the inside out from this movement of hands on skin.

"You okay?" he asked, wondering if she might be getting sick.

She nodded, mutely searching his features. His skin had lost its summer tan but it wasn't as pale as hers. And his eyes were the same: deep gray, like the color of storm clouds only much safer. Almost like a sanctuary.

Owen was looking at her, too, now, his fingers moving slower up and down her smooth arms. She took a step forward and lifted a hand to his cheek, as Elizabeth had done hours earlier. She seemed unconscious of the movement, as if he were nothing more than a piecrust that she was testing for…what? He didn't know enough about piecrusts to know what you might test them for. He held his breath, though, and stopped his hands just above each of her elbows, and waited for what would happen next.

"Thank you for being so sweet to E," she whispered, her forehead creased with concentration.

"My pleasure," he said softly, matching her tone of voice and falling into those deep brown eyes of hers. His breathing seemed to speed up suddenly and without asking them to, his hands slipped under her arms and snaked around to her back where he held them there. Mickey brought up her other hand to his shoulder and tilted her head to one side as if trying to figure something out.

Their eyes like fingertips moved over each other's faces as if they were trying to memorize this moment, right now. Mickey's visage was an open mass of fear, want, curiosity and pain. She'd been hurt terribly before and she was terrified of being hurt again, but she knew this man well and she wanted him and she wondered what it would be like to give herself to him.

For his part, Owen could only see her apprehension and he involuntarily tightened his hold on her. "You know I would never hurt you, right? Not for anything."

Mickey thought about how hurt she'd been when he'd dated Rory and realized he meant that he'd never _knowingly_ hurt her. "I know," she agreed softly, shifting her eyes away from him.

He leaned down to capture her gaze once again and said, "I mean it." Mickey just stared at him, unsure of herself at this range. He was closer to her than he'd ever been before. Both of her hands were at his shoulders now and he took the opportunity to lean down even further. She looked up at him, not completely sure of what he was doing. When his mouth touched hers, her eyes widened fractionally and then fluttered closed.

Gently, with the kind of slowness that made her suddenly want to scream at him to speed up, he explored the delicate skin of her lips: brushing against them with his, nibbling at one or the other, tasting her until she heard someone make a soft, mewling noise, the kind that started in the back of your throat when you were hurt or happy and traveled out of your mouth without your permission. She was startled to hear it again and that's when she knew that it was she making this noise, encouraging Owen, for encourage him it did. Her right hand traveled up to the back of his neck when she felt his tongue on her lips and her knees almost gave way when she opened her mouth and let him inside.

After a second of adjusting to these new sensations, Mickey felt herself become an active participant as opposed to just the person he was kissing. She let him draw her out and kissed him back and found that she was sort of good at it. She wasn't the only one making the soft, intermittent noises now and she found herself awestruck and delighted that she was the cause of the low sighs coming from him.

Owen broke the kiss suddenly, not wanting to offer her too much too fast. As they stood in the tiny living room, breathing fast and staring at each other, Mickey slipped her hands from his body and took a step back, trying to breathe deeply.

"Wow," she finally said, wanting to break the silence.

"Yeah," he agreed.

She paused, at a loss for words and unsure about why he had ended the kiss. Mickey crossed her arms over her chest and looked down. Why didn't he say anything? Did he think she did this often? How on earth could she tell him that he was special to her? Would he even understand?

Owen cleared his throat and her eyes flew back to his. "I should probably go," he told her, his tone suggesting it was the last thing he wanted to do.

Mickey looked at her feet again and nodded. She felt him move close to her, though, closing the distance with one step and she looked up in time to find his face close to hers again. Carefully, he bent down and let his lips rest gently at the corner of her mouth in a chaste goodbye kiss, before he pulled quickly away and said, "I'd like to see you again."

"See me?" she asked stupidly.

"See you," he nodded. "Take you out. On a date, maybe."

Mickey smiled and suddenly felt like the whole world was on her side again. "Oh! Okay. I'd like that." He hadn't stepped all the way back and like a child drunk on happiness she leaned up and pressed against him, thrilling to the rush of initiating this Contact. Her arms had uncrossed and she was holding the lapels of his jacket in her fists, lost in a world of sensations, letting her mouth enjoy itself.

Forgetting himself for a moment, Owen gave in briefly and relished the way her taut body pressed against his. She was the most wonderful thing that had ever happened to him. "I really should be going now," he finally said after pulling back again.

"All right," Mickey agreed, knowing it was for the best, and followed him to the door.

"I'll call you," he promised before leaving her with a jaunty wave and his signature, lopsided smile.

Mickey closed the door behind him and leaned against it, sighing. The smile playing at her lips suddenly split open and she gave a soft laugh. He'd call her. She crossed the room to the three front windows and looked down at the street. She could see him walking to his car.

"Mommy?" called a soft voice from behind her.

Mickey turned and found Elizabeth in the doorway of the hall, rubbing her eyes, awake but still sleepy. She pulled a footstool over to the window and sat down on it, opening her arms for her baby.

E clambered up into her lap and gazed out the window, too, watching Owen start his car and drive away. Mickey squeezed the little body tight and E turned her face up to hers and said, "We make a good family."

"That we do," Mickey agreed, unable to keep herself from smiling again.

End


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